A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Plane into Sydney

Several people have been injured after a Delta Airlines jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they evaluated five patients, and transported three of them to the hospital with minor injuries that included spinal discomfort and head pain. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the newest example of aircraft experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with researchers saying that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they got a call just three minutes ahead of the plane landed, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is becoming more frequent - and often stronger.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a terrifying five seconds bout of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon during flights, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of over 35 million flights that currently occur around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing unstable air exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As climate change modifies the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that flying could become less smooth: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are projected to increase the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.