Visible wake vortex???

[walterman]

Me and a buddy were doing some formation flying - me in my Grumman Traveler, him in a Cherekee six. He flew into the vortex coming from my right wing tip and swears he was able to see it. He described it as a spiral shimmer - sort of like the visual distortion coming off a hot surface, only it was a tight spiral coming from the tip of my wing impacting his windshield.

I tried flying in his vortex - but my plane was tossed around like a piece of paper - couldn't keep it there very long (I was in the green arc).

So, is he dreaming? Can you really see that? We might try again to get it on video.

-Walter

 

[Graueradler]

There are quite a few photos out there showing wake vortex in smoke or vapor. I've never heard of being able to see one in clear air. There is one of a crop duster taking off with a red smoke pot adjacent to the runway, Another has a C-130 firing countermeasure flares and the vortices show in the smoke from the flares. Good teaching aids. Goggle is able to find them.

 

[poadeleted20]

Me and a buddy were doing some formation flying - me in my Grumman Traveler, him in a Cherekee six.

Just as an aside, dissimilar formation flying is extremely tricky. We in the FFI-certified Grumman formation community do not even teach it. The performance differences between a Cherokee 6 and a Grumman Traveler could result in serious trouble if close formation is attempted by the untrained. We don't even put AA-1's and AA-5's in the same formation unless the AA-1's are modified with bigger engines so their performance matches up well enough.

Anyone interested in getting formation training in their light civil aircraft should contact:

Formation Flying, Incorporated
3509 Gattis School Road
Round Rock, Texas 78664

...to find out how to get the training and become an FFI-certified formation pilot in a non-warbird light plane.

Ron Levy
FFI-certified Flight Lead

 

[fgcason]

High humidity, heavy and high AOA can make the vortex visible. It happens at high performance airshows all the time.

Go sit off the end of a runway and watch airliners come out of a very low overcast in the evening when the temp/dewpoint are on top of each other. If the conditions are just right, you can see the vortex coming off the wingtips, off both sides of the extended flaps and even from the elevator tips. (How I wish I had a camera the evening I saw that)

As for close formation, what Rev Ron said. And then don't get so involved looking for the vortex that you smash into the other plane.

 

[AirBaker]

As for close formation, what Rev Ron said. And then don't get so involved looking for the vortex that you smash into the other plane.

Those are words of wisdom... We never even look at our gauges when flying wing.

I flew through the wake of another Bonanza on my second formation flight while doing a crossover. Never saw the wake, but you sure could feel it.

 

[SJP]

There are quite a few photos out there showing wake vortex in smoke or vapor. I've never heard of being able to see one in clear air. There is one of a crop duster taking off with a red smoke pot adjacent to the runway, Another has a C-130 firing countermeasure flares and the vortices show in the smoke from the flares. Good teaching aids. Goggle is able to find them.

Crop Duster pic attached.

I would expect that the vortex may be visible even in clear air due to the difference in air-pressure and the resultant refraction due to density between the air-masses. Would be slight, but might be noticable from just the right angle.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

Just to reinforce with what everyone else said....

http://flightlevel350.com/viewer.php?id=2569

 

[poadeleted20]

I flew through the wake of another Bonanza on my second formation flight while doing a crossover. Never saw the wake, but you sure could feel it.

Did you do the formation course run by Vernon Ricks' The Airmen operation down in Greenwood MS that ABS requires for the Oshkosh mass fly-in?

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

I love to see fighter jets when the pull some G it seems that vapor appears above the wing, sometimes just the tips. Saw an F15 do it last month, sunny clear day.

 

[Richard]

Crop Duster pic attached.

I would expect that the vortex may be visible even in clear air due to the difference in air-pressure and the resultant refraction due to density between the air-masses. Would be slight, but might be noticable from just the right angle.

That pic on a T-shirt would be cool. First impressions is it's some drug induced distortion.

 

[AirBaker]

Did you do the formation course run by Vernon Ricks' The Airmen operation down in Greenwood MS that ABS requires for the Oshkosh mass fly-in?

I participated in the regional training for the B2Osh run at Stockton. Definitely a very disciplined group. Wayne Collins, the B2Osh founder showed up for some of the practice. Most of the guys at the Stockton clinic had their FFI Wing / Lead cards.