A Number of Affected as Rough Air Hits Delta Plane Arriving in Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta Airlines aircraft from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed five individuals, and took a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included pain in the back and migraines. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of commercial jets experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative added, adding that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Paramedics indicated they were alerted just three minutes before the plane arrived, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, two dozen individuals were hurt when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "considerable" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a frightening brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. A traveler died and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon while flying, and while occurrences of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are approximately five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million journeys that are conducted globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the vertical motions of a aircraft passing through disturbed air generate greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As climate change shifts weather patterns, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are expected to increase the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.