Several Affected as Rough Air Impacts A Delta Airlines Aircraft Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Several people have been injured following a Delta jet traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced significant turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they evaluated a total of five people, and took a trio to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that such as spinal discomfort and headaches. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the newest example of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with experts saying that global warming is a key driver.

There were nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, clarifying that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they were alerted just three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

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

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "significant" rough air just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger died and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while instances of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are approximately five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a overall number of over 35 million journeys that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a aircraft experiencing unstable air apply in excess of a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As climate change alters weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to increase the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.