Multiple Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Flight Landing at Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney encountered turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they treated five patients, and took a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the newest example of commercial jets experiencing turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that global warming is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the representative added, adding that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane landed, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. An individual lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a sum of over 35 million flights that are conducted around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the vertical motions of a aircraft experiencing rough air masses generate greater than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As climate change shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that flying could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are likely to heighten the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.