Multiple Injured as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt following a Delta Airlines flight traveling from LA to Sydney was hit by rough air on Friday morning.

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

Emergency medical services stated they treated five patients, and transported three to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included spinal discomfort and head pain. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.

It is the most recent case of aircraft encountering turbulence, with experts saying that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the official added, adding that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just a mere 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, 25 people were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a frightening brief five-second period of extreme instability. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million flights that are conducted globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a plane going through unstable air exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As climate change shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.