Several Hurt as Rough Air Impacts Delta Plane Landing at Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines jet traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Emergency medical services said they evaluated a total of five people, and took a trio to the hospital with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the newest example of commercial jets being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that global warming is a major factor.

There were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the official noted, stating that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Emergency responders indicated they got a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is growing more common - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, 25 people were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a terrifying short but intense bout of severe turbulence. A traveler died and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

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

Data suggests that there are around thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing rough air masses apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.