Several Injured as Turbulence Hits Delta Flight Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta aircraft originating in LA to Sydney experienced turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson told. Four flight attendants were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five patients, and transported a trio to hospital with relatively minor issues that included pain in the back and head pain. Those affected ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the latest incident of commercial jets experiencing severe turbulence, with experts pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, clarifying that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds before the plane touched down, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is growing more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a sum of over 35 million journeys that currently occur worldwide.

Intense turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing unstable air generate in excess of a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.

As a changing climate alters atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.