A Number of Affected as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta Airlines jet originating in LA to Sydney encountered rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson told. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated a total of five people, and took a trio to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included spinal discomfort and headaches. The injured were between their thirties and seventies.

This marks the newest example of planes being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson noted, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders said they received a call just three minutes before the plane landed, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more common - and more severe.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "severe" rough air just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a certain international flight went through a terrifying five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while instances of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are around thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing unstable air generate more than a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As a changing climate alters the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to boost the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.