A Number of Injured as Rough Air Strikes Delta Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people sustained injuries when a Delta aircraft originating in LA to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier told. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Local paramedics reported they evaluated five individuals, and transported three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected ranged from their thirties and seventies.

It is the latest incident of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers indicating that climate change is a significant contributor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official noted, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

Paramedics reported they received a call just only 180 seconds before the plane arrived, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is getting more common - and often stronger.

In the previous year, 25 people sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger died and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are around five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing unstable air exert greater than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As climate change shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.