Several Affected as Turbulence Impacts Delta Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated five individuals, and transported three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that included pain in the back and head pain. Those affected were between their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the most recent case of commercial jets being hit by turbulence, with experts indicating that climate change is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they got a call just three minutes before the plane touched down, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is growing more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, 25 people were hurt when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "severe" turbulence just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while instances of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million aircraft departures that now take off around the world.

Severe turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a plane going through unstable air apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to increase the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.