Multiple Affected as Rough Air Hits A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured when a Delta flight originating in LA to Sydney was hit by significant turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed five patients, and took a trio to the hospital with relatively minor issues that such as pain in the back and headaches. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the latest incident of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

On board were 245 people and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more frequent - and often stronger.

During the past year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a frightening brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are an estimated thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of more than 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing unstable air generate more than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As a changing climate shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that flying could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.