A Number of Injured as Turbulence Hits Delta Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official told. Four flight attendants were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five individuals, and took three of them to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included pain in the back and head pain. The injured were between their thirties and seventies.

It is the most recent case of commercial jets experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Paramedics said they were alerted just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is becoming more common - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, hit "significant" rough air just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing short but intense bout of severe turbulence. An individual died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million flights that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a jet experiencing unstable air apply more than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As global warming modifies weather patterns, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.