Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services stated they evaluated five patients, and took three of them to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included pain in the back and migraines. Those affected ranged from their 30s to 70s.

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

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is becoming more common - and more severe.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" turbulence just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a frightening brief five-second of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is not uncommon during flights, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a jet experiencing unstable air exert more than a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As a changing climate alters atmospheric conditions, experts warn that air travel could become more turbulent: warming trends and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.