A Number of Injured as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt following a Delta aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced turbulence Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Emergency medical services reported they treated five individuals, and took three to hospital with relatively minor issues that included spinal discomfort and headaches. Those affected ranged from their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of aircraft experiencing severe turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they got a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. A traveler lost their life and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are an estimated thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million journeys that are conducted worldwide.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a plane experiencing unstable air generate in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As global warming shifts atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are projected to increase the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.