Multiple Affected as Turbulence Strikes A Delta Airlines Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Local paramedics said they treated five individuals, and transferred a trio to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that climate change is a major factor.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson added, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

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

In the previous year, 25 people were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "significant" turbulence just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight went through a terrifying short but intense period of extreme instability. An individual lost their life and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are around 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of over 35 million journeys that are conducted globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the vertical motions of a jet experiencing disturbed air exert more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to increase the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.