Several Hurt as Rough Air Strikes Delta Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced significant turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official told. Several cabin crew members were injured.

Local paramedics said they assessed five individuals, and took a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft encountering severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a major factor.

There were nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the official added, clarifying that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics reported they received a call just a mere three minutes before the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "severe" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a terrifying five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a aircraft passing through unstable air generate in excess of a significant G-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As global warming alters weather patterns, researchers alert that flying could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are likely to boost the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.