A Number of Hurt as Rough Air Strikes Delta Flight into Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt following 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 stated. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Local paramedics stated they assessed five individuals, and transferred three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that global warming is a major factor.

There were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the representative added, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they were alerted just a mere three minutes before the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "significant" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a frightening brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are an estimated thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a total of in excess of 35 million journeys that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a plane going through disturbed air generate in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.