Multiple Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Plane Landing at Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services reported they treated five individuals, and took a trio to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised pain in the back and headaches. The injured spanned from their thirties and seventies.

It is the most recent case of commercial jets being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers indicating that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson added, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Paramedics reported they received a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and often stronger.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are around thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a sum of over 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted worldwide.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a plane passing through disturbed air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As global warming alters weather patterns, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: warming trends and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.