Posted: 9/26/2014 9:46:57 PM EDT
| I'm currently on an MD90 out of Atlanta to DC. Experienced some pretty rough turbulence climbing out which I thought strange since there were no storms or systems in the area. Pilot came on the intercom a short time later and said we were stuck in the wake of a 777 about 10 miles ahead of us that caused the "issue." I'm going back to being a passenger now, but wanted to ask the collective about wake turbulence, sure made the MD90 toss and turn. |
| Wake turbulence is a real factor but generally only on takeoff and on final approach. Yes, it is possible you could experience some wake turbulence effects in the situation you describe but they should be very, very minor, even with a triple 7 ahead at 10 miles. If you had a rough ride in those circumstances it is likely weather, not wake turbulence. By weather I mean thermals / wind shear, etc. as opposed to storms. |
A 'friend' flying a CJ1 got caught in the wake turbulence of what I presume was a 757 that had departed a couple minutes earlier, from a major airport. Not during takeoff, but on climb-out around 5000'. Full opposite aileron input and still nearly went inverted. No passengers, thank God, but pretty nerve wracking for him and his co-pilot. 
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Quoted:
A 'friend' flying a CJ1 got caught in the wake turbulence of what I presume was a 757 that had departed a couple minutes earlier, from a major airport. Not during takeoff, but on climb-out around 5000'. Full opposite aileron input and still nearly went inverted. No passengers, thank God, but pretty nerve wracking for him and his co-pilot. We simultaneously flipped left and dropped altitude while in severe buffeting, pilot corrected and we continued in the buffeting until he cleared. It got everyone's attention, even the cabin crew. |
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Quoted:
Wake turbulence is a real factor but generally only on takeoff and on final approach. Yes, it is possible you could experience some wake turbulence effects in the situation you describe but they should be very, very minor, even with a triple 7 ahead at 10 miles. If you had a rough ride in those circumstances it is likely weather, not wake turbulence. By weather I mean thermals / wind shear, etc. as opposed to storms. Don't believe everything you read. |
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We were #5 in a 5 ship formation of C-141's. Veered into the wakes of numbers 1 thru 4 and got tossed around really bad. One second I'm checking the cargo before descent, the next I'm floating near the ceiling...followed by flat on my back across the crewchief's toolbox on the floor.
Ouch. |
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The two greatest flights I've ever been on happened on MD-90's Same Flt #'s going from KSLC to KMCI. Occurred about a year apart!
First was the best flight ever!! It contained the smoothest takeoff combined with the smoothest Flt, and followed with the greatest landing evar!! It was if the hand of god came and set the plane down on a goose down pillow! Then there was the freaky extra noises and burning smell in cabin. Followed by a very long bumpy swervy takeoff! Ran into some of the worst turbulence I've ever been in. Capped with landing at night in ass kicking thunder storms! I'm talking right on into the heart if the storm, thunderstorms! Alt gains and drops that would send things flying around the cabin! Lightning flashing every few seconds, and rain that was louder than the engines, that seemed to be screaming in pain just to keep us flying! Imagine experiencing a real roller coaster ride then all the sudden WHAM we were on the runway weaving to a crawl! There were men and woman getting off that flight with tears streaming down their face! But I thought it was the greatest ride I've ever taken! Back on topic yes I've heard wake turbulence is a bitch, and only experienced it once! But it wasn't as bad as expected. |
I got rocked pretty good from a 757 that departed ahead of us at LAX. I think it was about 500 AGL. I watched him depart, and knew I'd be off the ground long before his liftoff point. Never crossed my mind that he would probably double our climb rate in a Falcon 20
I learned to respect wake turbulence from that little ride. Couple of years ago, I was coming back to the mainland from Honolulu, wondering why we were getting such a shitty ride. We'd been busy undoing along for quite a while. I was offset a mile, so we went to two and miraculously it smoothed out, and in the sunset I could see a contrail about a mile off our left wingtip dropping down from a thousand feet above us. |
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This doesn't just happen with large aircraft. Last Sunday afternoon while flying at out 2000 ft grass strip a friend was giving instruction in a 2 seat powered parachute. They took off and coming in on final behind them was another friend in his Kitfox. It looked like he was going to end up in the cornfield beside the runway before he got it under control and did a go around. That propwash hung around a long time over the 100 ft wide runway between 2 cornfields. We could still feel some of it when we took off in the J3 cub after the kitfox aborted landing. When you are in a light aircraft you need to watch out for it no matter what you are following. |