Multiple Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Plane Arriving in Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. Several cabin crew members were injured.

Emergency medical services reported they evaluated five individuals, and transported three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that included spinal discomfort and headaches. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the latest incident of planes encountering severe turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the official added, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they were alerted just a mere three minutes before the plane landed, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying brief five-second of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

Turbulence is not uncommon during flights, and while instances of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million flights that are conducted worldwide.

Intense turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a jet going through rough air masses exert in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.