Multiple Affected as Turbulence Strikes Delta Flight into Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured when a Delta Airlines aircraft originating in LA to Sydney encountered turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Several cabin crew members were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated five individuals, and took three to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the most recent case of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists indicating that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative added, clarifying that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they received a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and often stronger.

Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" rough air just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger died and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are around thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of over 35 million journeys that currently occur worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a plane experiencing unstable air exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As climate change shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are projected to increase the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.