Multiple Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries when a Delta aircraft from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Local paramedics stated they assessed a total of five people, and transported a trio to the hospital with minor injuries that such as spinal discomfort and headaches. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of planes encountering turbulence, with researchers indicating that global warming is a major factor.

On board were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson added, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders said they got a call just a mere three minutes before the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is growing increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "severe" turbulence just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a frightening five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while instances of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that now take off worldwide.

Severe turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft going through unstable air exert in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming modifies the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that flying could become more turbulent: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.