Several Hurt as Turbulence Hits Delta Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people have been injured after a Delta Airlines jet from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Local paramedics stated they treated five patients, and transported three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and headaches. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the most recent case of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative noted, stating that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders said they got a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane landed, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a frightening five seconds bout of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon during flights, and while cases of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are around 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a jet passing through disturbed air generate greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As global warming shifts atmospheric conditions, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: warming trends and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.