Several Affected as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney

Several people have been injured following a Delta aircraft originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Four flight attendants were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed a total of five people, and took three to the hospital with relatively minor issues that such as back pain and headaches. Those affected ranged from their 30s to 70s.

It is the most recent case of aircraft experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists indicating that climate change is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just only 180 seconds before the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is growing more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, 25 people were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. A traveler lost their life and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while cases of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a plane passing through rough air masses generate greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force 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 air travel could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.