A Number of Hurt as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta Airlines jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney encountered significant turbulence on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier stated. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they evaluated five patients, and transported three to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and headaches. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

This marks the latest incident of planes being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that climate change is a key driver.

There were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official said, stating that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they got a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more frequent - and often stronger.

During the past year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying short but intense bout of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are around five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million flights that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a jet passing through disturbed air apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As climate change shifts weather patterns, experts warn that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.