Several Affected as Rough Air Strikes Delta Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt after a Delta jet originating in LA to Sydney experienced rough air Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. Several cabin crew members were injured.

Emergency medical services stated they assessed five individuals, and transported three to hospital with minor injuries that comprised back pain and head pain. The injured were between their 30s to 70s.

This marks the newest example of planes experiencing severe turbulence, with experts indicating that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

On board were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the representative added, clarifying that the plane landed "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they received a call just only 180 seconds before the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, 25 people were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" turbulence 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 went through a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a sum of more than 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing rough air masses exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As global warming alters weather patterns, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become less smooth: temperature changes and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.