Multiple Affected as Turbulence Strikes A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people sustained injuries when a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by significant turbulence this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. Several cabin crew members were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they assessed five patients, and transported three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and migraines. Those affected ranged from their 30s to 70s.

It is the most recent case of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson said, stating that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

Emergency responders reported they received a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more frequent - and more severe.

In the previous year, 25 people sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a certain international flight endured a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted worldwide.

Intense turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft experiencing disturbed air generate more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As climate change alters weather patterns, researchers alert that flying could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.