Wake turbulence?

[cloonam]

Was in the pattern this morning behind a 172, trailing a bit closer than I usually do, but not too closely. It seemed like I was either equal in altitude or a little higher. Twice I felt a kind of buffett over the wings (I was well above stall speed - ~98mph vs. 48mph stall), and eventually I had a pretty hard roll to the right, and strong yaw as well. It took a big input on the stick and rudder to keep the plane from rolling over, although the base and final legs were normal, and plane handled fine on them. The roll was enough to spook me out of any more laps, but the plane seemed just fine on the ground condition-wise.

I'm guessing this was wake turbulence? There was no other turbulence at the time or in any of the other laps in the pattern. I'm just surprised since it seemed like a strong effect from a 172, and I was seemingly a bit higher (doesn't the wake fall down?). Is this consistent with what others have experienced behind other light planes?

 

[flyingron]

It could well be the wake. It doesn't fall that fast. If you ever do a calm wind turn about a point you often can feel yourself hitting your wake after the first circuit.

 

[Clip4]

Was in the pattern this morning behind a 172, trailing a bit closer than I usually do, but not too closely. It seemed like I was either equal in altitude or a little higher. Twice I felt a kind of buffett over the wings (I was well above stall speed - ~98mph vs. 48mph stall), and eventually I had a pretty hard roll to the right, and strong yaw as well. It took a big input on the stick and rudder to keep the plane from rolling over, although the base and final legs were normal, and plane handled fine on them. The roll was enough to spook me out of any more laps, but the plane seemed just fine on the ground condition-wise.

I'm guessing this was wake turbulence? There was no other turbulence at the time or in any of the other laps in the pattern. I'm just surprised since it seemed like a strong effect from a 172, and I was seemingly a bit higher (doesn't the wake fall down?). Is this consistent with what others have experienced behind other light planes?

If wake turbulence from light aircraft was an issue there would be a lot of wake turbulence accidents at Air Venture and Sun&Fun where more than one aircraft is over the runway at the same time and pilots are operating close to stall speed.

 

[midwestpa24]

If wake turbulence from light aircraft was an issue there would be a lot of wake turbulence accidents at Air Venture and Sun&Fun.

I wouldn't characterize wake turbulence from light aircraft as an "issue", it isn't going to roll you inverted like a 747, but you can certainly feel it and get bumped around when you aren't expecting it. I've hit it numerous times. Its one way to know if you are doing your steep turns correctly, you should feel the bump of your own wake about the time you roll wings level.

 

[drummer4468]

Yep, wake turbulence from small planes is definitely a thing. In primary training I was in a 172 following a 206 on downwind and caught a couple "nasty" vortices. In hindsight it wasn't that bad at all, but at the time it startled the pants off my 20-odd-hour self. Not as scary as airliner wake, but still a factor to be aware of when you're low and slow.

 

[PaulS]

Don't forget about that big fan up front spinning the breeze back to you too.