A Number of Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Flight Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt when a Delta Airlines jet originating in LA to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence on Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated five patients, and transferred three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that such as pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages were between their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of commercial jets encountering severe turbulence, with experts saying that climate change is a significant contributor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson noted, adding that the plane landed "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes before the plane touched down, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more common - and often stronger.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. An individual died and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is fairly routine while flying, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that now take off worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a aircraft experiencing disturbed air apply more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are projected to increase the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.