Multiple Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries after a Delta aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney encountered significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Local paramedics stated they assessed a total of five people, and took three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included back pain and migraines. Those affected were between their 30s to 70s.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with experts 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 arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Paramedics said they got a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

Why plane turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" rough air just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a aircraft going through unstable air apply in excess of a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As global warming shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are projected to increase the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.