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

Several people were hurt when a Delta jet originating in LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated five individuals, and took three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that comprised pain in the back and headaches. Those affected ranged from their thirties and seventies.

It is the newest example of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with researchers pointing out that global warming is a significant contributor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics reported they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is growing more frequent - and often stronger.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a frightening brief five-second period of extreme instability. A traveler passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million journeys that currently occur around the world.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the up and down movements of a jet going through disturbed air exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As climate change modifies weather patterns, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become less smooth: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.