Several Hurt as Rough Air Hits A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Several people have been injured following a Delta Airlines flight from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Several cabin crew members were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they treated five individuals, and transported three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The injured spanned from their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with experts saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

There were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson added, stating that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Paramedics said they were alerted just only 180 seconds before the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" rough air just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger died and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while instances of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur worldwide.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a aircraft experiencing unstable air generate greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.