Multiple Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines jet from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a company official told. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Local paramedics reported they treated five patients, and transferred three to hospital with minor injuries that included pain in the back and migraines. The injured were between their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that global warming is a major factor.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the official added, stating that the plane arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just three minutes before the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

In the previous year, 25 people were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a terrifying brief five-second period of extreme instability. An individual died and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while instances of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Research indicates that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft going through rough air masses exert 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 seatbelt.

As climate change shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that flying could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.