A Number of Injured as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta jet from LA to Sydney, Australia 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 told. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Emergency medical services said they evaluated five individuals, and transported three to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and head pain. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that climate change is a significant contributor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, clarifying that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they received a call just three minutes before the plane landed, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is getting more common - and more severe.

Last year, two dozen individuals were hurt when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" turbulence just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are an estimated thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that now take off globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet passing through rough air masses generate more than a significant G-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As a changing climate alters atmospheric conditions, experts warn that flying could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are projected to boost the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.