A Number of Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Flight Arriving in Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Four flight attendants were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they treated five individuals, and took a trio to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included back pain and headaches. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with experts saying that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official noted, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just only 180 seconds prior to the plane arrived, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

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

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" turbulence just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a harrowing short but intense of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million flights that now take off globally.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft experiencing disturbed air exert greater than a significant G-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As climate change modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that commercial aviation could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.