A Number of Hurt as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney

Several people were hurt when a Delta flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney encountered turbulence on Friday morning.

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

Emergency medical services stated they assessed a total of five people, and transferred three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and headaches. The injured ranged from their 30s to 70s.

It is the latest incident of commercial jets encountering turbulence, with researchers saying that global warming is a major factor.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Paramedics said they received a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane landed, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is getting more frequent - and more severe.

During the past year, 25 people were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" rough air just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. An individual died and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while instances of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a overall number of over 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted worldwide.

Intense turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a jet going through unstable air apply more than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become less smooth: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.