Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Flight into Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Local paramedics reported they evaluated five patients, and transported three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s to 70s.

It is the newest example of planes being hit by severe turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that climate change is a key driver.

There were 245 people and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the representative said, stating that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Paramedics indicated they were alerted just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and often stronger.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "severe" rough air just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. A traveler died and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a total of more than 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing disturbed air exert greater than a significant G-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As climate change shifts atmospheric conditions, experts warn that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.