Caution..."Caution Wake Turbulence"...can give you a serious headache!

Shawn

Shawn

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Shawn
Cruising around San Francisco today on a Bay Tour, wrapping up and head back down the coast @3500' in the SFO Bravo transition to KHAF for some lunch...

ATC: "Sklyane 598, traffic two o'clock, 747 heavy climbing'" (kinda hard to miss a 747)..."Traffic in sight"..."Skylane 598, caution wake turbulence" ..."Roger 598". He has taken off and is departing off to my right.

Now I am still several miles out from the 747, and he is now several miles to my three o'clock. I have been here before...in the exact spot no less with a departing 747 and had a few "wabbles" of turbulence from the departing aircraft. Looked like I was gonna be well above his glide path when I crossed his point...and he was so far out by this point...and knowing from my training that wake turbulence falls, figured I was good. Crossed his flight path and *BAM* all three of us in the plane get LAUNCHED into the roof, Stratus receiver and GPS antenna on the dash go flying and literally flip over and land upside down on the dash, everything in the baggage area was airborne. Just one quick slamming jolt, but dang we all got worked! Guess I wasn't as far above his path as I thought!

Moral of the story...pay attention to wake turbulence even in the air...it can leave you with a headache for the rest of the day!

...and on another note. I learned that my seat belt and shoulder harness does a great job from keeping me from going forward but not so much from going up!
 
Shawn said:
Cruising around San Francisco today on a Bay Tour, wrapping up and head back down the coast @3500' in the SFO Bravo transition to KHAF for some lunch...

ATC: "Sklyane 598, traffic two o'clock, 747 heavy climbing'" (kinda hard to miss a 747)..."Traffic in sight"..."Skylane 598, caution wake turbulence" ..."Roger 598". He has taken off and is departing off to my right.

Now I am still several miles out from the 747, and he is now several miles to my three o'clock. I have been here before...in the exact spot no less with a departing 747 and had a few "wabbles" of turbulence from the departing aircraft. Looked like I was gonna be well above his glide path when I crossed his point...and he was so far out by this point...and knowing from my training that wake turbulence falls, figured I was good. Crossed his flight path and *BAM* all three of us in the plane get LAUNCHED into the roof, Stratus receiver and GPS antenna on the dash go flying and literally flip over and land upside down on the dash, everything in the baggage area was airborne. Just one quick slamming jolt, but dang we all got worked! Guess I wasn't as far above his path as I thought!

Moral of the story...pay attention to wake turbulence even in the air...it can leave you with a headache for the rest of the day!

...and on another note. I learned that my seat belt and shoulder harness does a great job from keeping me from going forward but not so much from going up!
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The worst wake turbulence encounter I've ever had was on a calm clear morning at 7am going into Orlando flying a B727. I was at 8,000 ft and 11 miles behind a B777 and it was a violent encounter.
 
Although sometimes it feels like they are just saying words, there is a reason that it is said...
 
I got my clock cleaned passing into the wake of a C5 out of Dover or McGuire...

Never again...
 
Get this: I was in a fully loaded 767 (yes, a heavy) that flew into the wake turbulence of an A380. Same thing...nearly turned us upside down...everyone thought we were going down. Purses in the air, screaming, you name it.

So when the tower tells me in my Cirrus "caution wake turbulence, cleared for takeoff", I say (yes really), "Van Nuys Tower, Cirrus 230SR requesting 5 minute hold to avoid wake turbulence." And on landing, when I hear "cleared for landing on 16R, caution wake turbulence", I say, "Van Nuys tower, Cirrus 230SR requesting extended downwind to avoid wake turbulence." They are always happy to accommodate!

It only takes once!
 
Yes, but you can be off the ground in under 20% of their ground roll, and then turn an early crosswind. BTDT. Landing, avoid the long straight in, turn very close base and touch down past the 2000 foot marker.

Just tell tower what you're doing.

You have options.

The OP was talking about airborne wake turbulence, which is a bit different.
 
My worst was in a Warrior or Arrow (can't remember which now) climbing out of BFI. I guess we crossed paths with a heavy out of Seatac, and the result was my airplane ending up inverted at 3000 ft just before going IMC. Not awesome. Also had one on short final in a Hornet, following company traffic to land. Rolled about 90 deg AOB, full slow AoA, and lit full afterburner just to not depart at about 100' AGL. Went around and landed with the seat cushion several inches into my butt. It is real for sure
 
same here - I was on a SWA flight about a year ago...we were flying along about half way from PHX to Seattle and WHOOMP! The plane banks hard to the left - almost 90 degrees. They were right in the middle of beverage service so there is drinks and stuff flying everywhere. The pilot catches it and then banks it back to the right about 45 degrees and then slowly rocks it back to straight and level.

I talked to the pilot on the jetway after and he said that ATC had vectored them under the path of a 747 that had passed about 10 minutes prior and we got spun in his wake turbulence.

That was some scary $%&%.
 
Transitioning from Long Island to the Hudson "over the shoreline", staying underneath the JFK class B airspace (500ft), "caution wake turbulence all makes and models above".
A 777 landing to JFK just over my Warrior, unexpected 60deg bank at 500ft. Learnt my lesson there.
 
mtuomi said:
Transitioning from Long Island to the Hudson "over the shoreline", staying underneath the JFK class B airspace (500ft), "caution wake turbulence all makes and models above".
A 777 landing to JFK just over my Warrior, unexpected 60deg bank at 500ft. Learnt my lesson there.
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I got that same call a few times in the same location and altitude.
I put both hands on the yoke, in preparation. Thankfully I didn't encounter any.
 
A few months back I was going to stop in at SWF when the tower informed me that I was #8 in line behind 7 C-17s and a C-130.
"Stewart Tower, no thanks. I'll be back in a week, when the turbulence dies down."
 
I was a passenger in an MD88 that hit wake turbulence on final of the airplane landing ahead of us. Pitched down about 10 degrees and rolled us right about 30-45 degrees. Not as violent as some of the encounters described, but very attention-getting when close to the ground.
 
What can you do? Make a sharp 90 degree turn to avoid the path entirely?

I was taxiing once when I got "That jet at the gate to your left is going to be starting engines."

OK. So I should stop until he pushes back?
 
When flying on the tracks we can sit underneath another airplane that's 1000' above us. If they're producing a contrail, it's amazing to sit there and watch the wake turbulence shape it. Even in a phase of flight not associated with wake turb (not clean, heavy and slow), it's amazing to see those tornadoes whip around. Especially impressive on a 747.
 
Rex Kramer said:
When flying on the tracks we can sit underneath another airplane that's 1000' above us. If they're producing a contrail, it's amazing to sit there and watch the wake turbulence shape it. Even in a phase of flight not associated with wake turb (not clean, heavy and slow), it's amazing to see those tornadoes whip around. Especially impressive on a 747.
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Flying eastbound out of Bangkok I was over Vietnam @FL330. Above me at FL340 was a 777 westbound. I looked down at the wind direction cursor on the ND and the wind right on my tail about 20knots. I started an offset just as he passed over and still encountered some of his wake.
 
Shawn said:
Cruising around San Francisco today on a Bay Tour, wrapping up and head back down the coast @3500' in the SFO Bravo transition to KHAF for some lunch...

ATC: "Sklyane 598, traffic two o'clock, 747 heavy climbing'" (kinda hard to miss a 747)..."Traffic in sight"..."Skylane 598, caution wake turbulence" ..."Roger 598". He has taken off and is departing off to my right.

Now I am still several miles out from the 747, and he is now several miles to my three o'clock. I have been here before...in the exact spot no less with a departing 747 and had a few "wabbles" of turbulence from the departing aircraft. Looked like I was gonna be well above his glide path when I crossed his point...and he was so far out by this point...and knowing from my training that wake turbulence falls, figured I was good. Crossed his flight path and *BAM* all three of us in the plane get LAUNCHED into the roof, Stratus receiver and GPS antenna on the dash go flying and literally flip over and land upside down on the dash, everything in the baggage area was airborne. Just one quick slamming jolt, but dang we all got worked! Guess I wasn't as far above his path as I thought!

Moral of the story...pay attention to wake turbulence even in the air...it can leave you with a headache for the rest of the day!

...and on another note. I learned that my seat belt and shoulder harness does a great job from keeping me from going forward but not so much from going up!
Click to expand...

Remember the vortices retain their velocity vector and expand as they mature. So a vortice from a climbing aircraft will continue to climb for a bit and expand. Merely passing above the path was obviously not enough. Glad you made it through your "lesson".
 
At SnF, the approach to 9 is right over the campgrounds at the West end of the field. They block off a 200' (?) wide corridor directly under the approach and you can't camp there. But you can walk through the area.

Anyway, a friend and I were walking right across that corridor right as a DC-9 (MD-80, or whatever) flew overhead. About 30 seconds later, the vorticies descended to ground level, kicking up two horizontal tornados of sand and dead grass. But the most amazing thing was the sound. It sounded like someone was tearing a mile long bed sheet in half. That sound lasted a long time. Very strange and a lasting memory.
 
kyleb said:
At SnF, the approach to 9 is right over the campgrounds at the West end of the field. They block off a 200' (?) wide corridor directly under the approach and you can't camp there. But you can walk through the area.

Anyway, a friend and I were walking right across that corridor right as a DC-9 (MD-80, or whatever) flew overhead. About 30 seconds later, the vorticies descended to ground level, kicking up two horizontal tornados of sand and dead grass. But the most amazing thing was the sound. It sounded like someone was tearing a mile long bed sheet in half. That sound lasted a long time. Very strange and a lasting memory.
Click to expand...

A friend and I had a similar experience. We were standing by the edge of the runway one night as a C-5 was taking off. It's wing was just over the edge of the grass and it's light had the illusion of being level with our heads. He rotated just before us and the vortice knocked us down. I was laying on top of him, covered with dirt / debris and both of us were laughing. Definitely something I won't forget.
 
kyleb said:
At SnF, the approach to 9 is right over the campgrounds at the West end of the field. They block off a 200' (?) wide corridor directly under the approach and you can't camp there. But you can walk through the area.

Anyway, a friend and I were walking right across that corridor right as a DC-9 (MD-80, or whatever) flew overhead. About 30 seconds later, the vorticies descended to ground level, kicking up two horizontal tornados of sand and dead grass. But the most amazing thing was the sound. It sounded like someone was tearing a mile long bed sheet in half. That sound lasted a long time. Very strange and a lasting memory.
Click to expand...

Heh heh. Been watching Pushing Tin? :)
 
Come to DC and chill out at Gravelly Point park. It's a couple hundred feet away from DCA 1/19, right in line with the runway. If they are landing on 19 you can hear the wake turbulence every 90 seconds when a plane passes about 50 feet directly above you.

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