A Number of Injured as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta jet traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Four flight attendants were injured.

Emergency medical services reported they assessed five individuals, and transported a trio to hospital with relatively minor issues that included back pain and head pain. The injured were between their thirties and seventies.

This marks the most recent case of aircraft encountering severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that global warming is a significant contributor.

There were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the representative said, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were hurt when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "severe" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a certain international flight endured a frightening short but intense period of extreme instability. A traveler died and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while cases of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million flights that are conducted globally.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft passing through unstable air exert greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As a changing climate alters the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: warming trends and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are expected to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.