Several Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta Airlines jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney encountered turbulence this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five individuals, and transported three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and headaches. The patients' ages were between their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft experiencing severe turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

Emergency responders indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more common - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, two dozen individuals were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" turbulence just two hours into the lengthy trip, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a certain international flight experienced a terrifying five seconds bout of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

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

Estimates show that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a total of more than 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted worldwide.

Severe turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing unstable air generate greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate alters atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that flying could become more turbulent: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.