A Number of Injured as Rough Air Hits Delta Flight into Sydney, Australia

Several people sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines jet from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official informed. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services reported they treated five patients, and transported three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included pain in the back and head pain. The injured were between their thirties and seventies.

It is the newest example of planes being hit by turbulence, with experts pointing out that global warming is a major factor.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson added, stating that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they were alerted just three minutes before the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is becoming more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" rough air just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a terrifying brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the vertical motions of a jet experiencing disturbed air exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As global warming alters weather patterns, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.