A Number of Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people sustained injuries after a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official told. Several cabin crew members were injured.

Local paramedics said they treated a total of five people, and took three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the most recent case of planes being hit by turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

There were nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative added, adding that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

Emergency responders reported they received a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane landed, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

Last year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. An individual passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while instances of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a plane going through rough air masses exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As a changing climate shifts the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.