Several Injured as Turbulence Hits Delta Aircraft into Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson stated. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they evaluated five patients, and transferred three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and migraines. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the newest example of planes being hit by turbulence, with researchers saying that global warming is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they got a call just three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more frequent - and often stronger.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "considerable" turbulence just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a certain international flight experienced a frightening short but intense of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is not uncommon while flying, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are approximately five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million journeys that currently occur worldwide.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through disturbed air generate more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As a changing climate alters atmospheric conditions, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to boost the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.