Several Affected as Rough Air Hits A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney

Several people sustained injuries after a Delta jet traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official informed. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Local paramedics said they treated five patients, and took three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and migraines. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the most recent case of commercial jets being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative added, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders reported they got a call just three minutes ahead of the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is getting more frequent - and more severe.

Last year, 25 people were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while occurrences of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a aircraft going through disturbed air generate in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As a changing climate alters the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are expected to heighten the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.