Multiple Affected as Rough Air Hits Delta Plane Landing at Sydney

Several people have been injured when a Delta jet from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Local paramedics reported they evaluated a total of five people, and transferred three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and migraines. Those affected ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that climate change is a key driver.

There were 245 people and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the representative added, stating that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics reported they got a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.

Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a frightening five seconds bout of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the up and down movements of a aircraft going through disturbed air exert more 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 a changing climate modifies atmospheric conditions, experts warn that air travel could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.