Several Affected as Rough Air Strikes Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta flight originating in LA to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Emergency medical services said they evaluated a total of five people, and took three of them to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the most recent case of commercial jets experiencing turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that global warming is a major factor.

There were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Paramedics reported they got a call just a mere three minutes before the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is becoming more common - and more severe.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" turbulence just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a sum of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through unstable air apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are likely to boost the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.