A Number of Injured as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta flight from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier stated. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated five patients, and took a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included pain in the back and migraines. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

This marks the newest example of planes being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative added, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics reported they got a call just three minutes prior to the plane landed, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

In the previous year, 25 people were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a frightening five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are around thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million journeys that currently occur globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the up and down movements of a plane going through disturbed air apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As climate change modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are likely to heighten the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.