Multiple Affected as Rough Air Impacts Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta flight from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official told. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services said they treated five patients, and took three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and migraines. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the newest example of commercial jets being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers pointing out that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the official noted, clarifying that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they received a call just three minutes ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "severe" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while cases of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the vertical motions of a plane passing through rough air masses generate greater than a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming modifies the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that flying could become bumpier: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.