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

Several people were hurt when a Delta Airlines jet traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated a total of five people, and took three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that such as pain in the back and head pain. Those affected spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the most recent case of planes encountering severe turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that climate change is a major factor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative noted, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is growing more frequent - and more severe.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "significant" rough air just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. One passenger died and numerous people sustained injuries, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is not uncommon while flying, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the sudden jolts of a plane going through disturbed air generate greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become bumpier: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.