A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes A Delta Airlines Plane Landing at Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta jet originating in LA to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five patients, and transferred three of them to hospital with minor injuries that included spinal discomfort and headaches. The injured were between their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with experts saying that climate change is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the official said, adding that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they were alerted just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "considerable" turbulence just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying short but intense period of extreme instability. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through disturbed air generate greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.