Several Injured as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt after a Delta aircraft originating in LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official told. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated five individuals, and transferred three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that such as back pain and head pain. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of planes experiencing turbulence, with researchers saying that global warming is a major factor.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson added, clarifying that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Emergency responders indicated they were alerted just three minutes before the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

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

In the previous year, 25 people were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger died and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are an estimated five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million flights that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a jet going through rough air masses exert more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As global warming alters atmospheric conditions, experts warn that flying could become more turbulent: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.