A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Plane Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines jet traveling from LA to Sydney encountered turbulence on Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Four flight attendants were injured.

Local paramedics stated they evaluated five patients, and transferred a trio to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and head pain. The injured ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the latest incident of planes experiencing severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the official added, clarifying that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they got a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" rough air just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are around 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a sum of over 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a aircraft going through rough air masses generate in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that flying could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to boost the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.