Several Hurt as Turbulence Strikes A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals sustained injuries when a Delta flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a company official told. Several cabin crew members were injured.

Emergency medical services said they assessed five individuals, and transferred three to a medical facility with minor injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and migraines. Those affected were between their 30s to 70s.

It is the most recent case of planes encountering severe turbulence, with researchers saying that global warming is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson noted, stating that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a frightening brief five-second of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that now take off around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing unstable air exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are likely to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.