Multiple Hurt as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured when a Delta jet traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by rough air Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Local paramedics reported they treated five patients, and took three to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that such as pain in the back and head pain. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the newest example of aircraft experiencing turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the representative added, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders reported they got a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

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

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" rough air just two hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that now take off around the world.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a aircraft going through unstable air generate greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies weather patterns, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.