Several Affected as Turbulence Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries after a Delta flight from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a company official informed. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services reported they treated a total of five people, and transferred three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included back pain and headaches. Those affected were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of planes being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative noted, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders said they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is becoming increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" rough air just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing brief five-second period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while instances of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a overall number of over 35 million flights that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through rough air masses exert in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.