Multiple Affected as Rough Air Impacts Delta Plane into Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured following a Delta aircraft from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Emergency medical services reported they assessed a total of five people, and took a trio to the hospital with minor injuries that included pain in the back and head pain. Those affected ranged from their 30s to 70s.

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

There were 245 people and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the representative added, adding that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics reported they got a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is growing increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing short but intense period of extreme instability. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

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

Data suggests that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur worldwide.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the up and down movements of a plane going through disturbed air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As climate change modifies the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that air travel could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the jet stream level are likely to increase the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.