A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Aircraft into Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official informed. Four flight attendants were injured.

Local paramedics reported they assessed a total of five people, and took three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that comprised pain in the back and migraines. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the newest example of commercial jets experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with experts saying that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson noted, stating that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

Emergency responders indicated they got a call just three minutes ahead of the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, 25 people sustained injuries when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" rough air just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while instances of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Data suggests that there are an estimated thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft passing through unstable air apply greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As climate change modifies weather patterns, researchers alert that flying could become more turbulent: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are likely to boost the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.