Worst experience with wake turbulence

[ruddersup?]

Maybe this topic has been beat up already but I would sure like to hear your horror stories. Might even save a life or two.

[Colonel Sanders]

Had to let go once when I was water-skiing. Otherwise
the ski-boat would have dragged me to the bottom of
the lake, like my aunt (by marriage, not DNA).

[ruddersup?]

Ha ha, would that make you a troll?

[200hr Wonder]

Ask the CAC pilots that ended up in the Ikea parking lot. http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-repor ... 9p0187.asp

[Moose47]

G'day

Mine was taking off behind a CP-107 Argus at C.F.B. Greenwood while flying a Cessna C-150 Aerobat. I guess I missed the part when the controller said "caution wake turbulence, departing Argus".

Cheers...Chris

[Teeg]

departed Toronto island in a moo-two after a Q... in a bid to get us out before multiple inbounds we were cleared with "caution wake turbulence" 45sec after previous traffic... we briefed the "when we hit wake turbulence," and sure enough we did... we went from wings level to a 50 deg roll... glad we had spoliers

[JungianJugular]

*deleted*

[fabichoux]

Following a CL215 from too close on a short final is not a good idea!!!!

45deg bank 50 feet over ground!

[Guido]

I remember sitting in a C150 holding short around the midpoint of the long runway at YXU and watching a butterfly experience the wonders of a B-1's turbulence... I also remember that for a few moments I couldn't even hear or feel the engine of the Cessna over the B-1's afterburners... Amazing.

[Lateralus]

Departing ORD in CRJ-200 behind a A320 believe it or not, stick shaker, GPWS warning....notified ORD tower that we almost became a smoking crater......they did not give a flying fack!

[ZBBYLW]

C152 behind a Convair 580. Scared myself sh!tless! 50-100 feet of the deck, 70 degree bank or so, the nose drops fast at those bank angles. Good learning lesson for a 100 hour pilot to respect Wake Turbulence. Also had one in a Metro behind a DH8 not as bad, but surprised how well it moved around our 15000lbs plane. We just went around and tried again.

[Bushav8er]

Mine was taking off behind a CP-107 Argus at C.F.B. Greenwood while flying a Cessna C-150 Aerobat. I guess I missed the part when the controller said "caution wake turbulence, departing Argus".

Similar Trenton - C172 after a C130, very short final (inside the fence) final, 50 degree roll, full input with no response until I flew out of it....and that was with more than 2 minutes separation.

[not wake turb but it was fun to hear, just after becoming airborne..."immediate right turn - Voodoo departing" I turned fast and tight so as to watch him do full burner with then vertical climb.]

[trey kule]

Might even save a life or two.

If that is your objective here, you are asking the wrong people. You should be asking those who never had a horrible experience with wake turbulence how it is they came to learn about waiting the proper time to allow it to disipate.
Or how to fly the proper profile. Where to land or takeoff if following a heavier aircraft.
Those people might save some lives if other people would listen. But there really is nothing they could tell you that you would not get in groundschool.

How many lives do you think will be saved by some idiots who knowingly take off to close to a departing aircraft....but brief for dealing with the wake turbulence (that was my hands down favorite). Particularily in a plane that should have been able to lift off well before a heavier machine and stay above its flight path until they could move a bit upwind...they didnt mention briefing to avoid it. Somehow, apparently spoilers are a magic bullet for dealing with wake turbulence..

There are some things in aviation that you just have to learn without experiencing them...and in many cases if you have gotten experience it typically means you are a very slow learner....Makes the folks that promote upset training a fortune..Teaching pilots how to get themselves out of a situation they should have known better than to get themselves into...Sad that some have to learn from death defying mistakes .

The TSB link posted has four simple tips. there are similar ones for departing aircraft. .I am of the opinion that if pilots would learn them, and use them appropriately, there would befar fewer posts on this thread..

[ZBBYLW]

Hey Trey Kule,

Sometimes sh!t happens even if you're trying to do things the right way. For instance my first case was when I was inexperienced. My instructors never really talked about it. I knew it existed from reading but not how aggressive it can be. The 2nd time I was following a Gonzo DH-8 who seemed to
Be practicing circuits. He went from above my glide path to below mine and landed at the threshold. Not sure why we were kept in so tight but it could have something to do with the slow speed of the DH-8. Again I understand that some people would get them selves into the situations by being idiots, others through situations that develop infront of them from the actions of others or due to not paying attention. I think the purpose of this tread is more to highlight the dangers of Wake Turbulance and the people who have already posted have done exactly that.

[trey kule]

The 2nd time

The second time?!!!! I see you are one of the "I never make the same mistake three times" crowd.

The internet is not always the best place as intent is sometimes misunderstood.. Odd, but this kind of incident has not happened to a great many of us even once. But twice to you！ Why do think that might be the case?
Perhaps it is time to forget about the horror stories and spend a bit of time on wake avoidance learning.
The third time you might not be so lucky..

He went from above my glide path to below mine and landed at the thres

hold

So you are behind a plane that is higher than you...maybe its time to turn, at least a bit upwind if you see he is going to descend through your glide path. Or climb....or...well.....do nothing,,,,,and blame it on shit happens, or the other guy was a gonzo pilot... yeah that is a good plan too. Gives you something to post in the "there I was" threads.
BTW... I found this interesting in your post..

Good learning lesson for a 100 hour pilot to respect Wake Turbulence

and then this..

For instance my first case was when I was inexperienced. My instructors never really talked about it.

A hundred hour pilot blaming his instructors for not talking about it......I guess. As I mentined before,,, this is not an experience you should need to have to learn..

[Colonel Sanders]

I always thought "wake turbulence" what was you replied
when the tower yelled at you for doing rolls on final.

Back when Gene Soucy was flying Pitts, it was neat to watch
him do snap rolls on final to lose airspeed. Before most people
here were born, I guess.

"wake turbulence" was probably what Alex Cassidy replied when
the tower observed him empirically and finally answering what
the LOC and GS indications were when you flew an ILS inverted,
after considerable theoretical debate on the subject.

[cgzro]

Sometimes things combine to create a situation you would not normally fly into.

Consider the following.

Helicopter landing parallel to runway.

Runway has temporary displaced threshold.

Helicopter is not the 'usual' R22/R44's that come and go but this day is a big twin turbine jobbie.

Of course wind is perfect to blow chopper wake towards you.

End result, well a very strong roll tendency on short final. Started out with slow requirement for aileron and then all of a sudden I'm at full aileron for a 1/2 second and still rolling.. then I exit I guess the other side.

Anyway beware of parallel approaches, choppers and wind direction. As trey kewl says better to learn from others mistakes .. would have been much worse for lower performance aircraft.

[sstaurus]

Can always count on AvCanada for someone to get on their old soapbox and give out a good ol' finger scolding.

[Beefitarian]

I'm going to try to type up a slightly more pleasant post. So far I have managed to avoid any significant wake turbulence, though I have had no where near as many chances to do so as Trey and the Colonel.

I fully plan to be a chicken and continue to attempt to stay well clear of it anytime I fly where large planes have been again in the future.

[trey kule]

Can always count on AvCanada for someone to get on their old soapbox and give out a good ol' finger scolding.

You are right...I will step down off the old soapbox and cease to post on this thread..Good luck to all those who need to learn about wake turbulence from experience.

[RFN]

At busy airports it is not always possible to avoid it. Example: capturing an ILS from 3000ft when the last guy picked up the glideslope from 3500 or 4000. In no wind you can get bumped pretty good, even when it's a medium following a medium.

Also for a medium behind a medium...we are in CRJ cleared an immediate behind an A320. No separation required because it's same wake category but still got 30 deg roll in less than a sec with nearly full opposite aileron.

Neither one is life threatening, but each is still irritating.

My bad one was level at FL 350 wrong way westbound waiting for a 777 to pass by at FL360. After he passed us we were cleared up to FL360. Just before capturing FL360 we drove right through his wake. Luckily it was at about a 90 deg angle so all we got was a quick, very hard thump. Learned a lesson there.

One of the nicest guys ever to walk the earth died in YWG back in 2001 because of the wake of an A320. It doesn't get worse than that.

[Aviatard]

This one time, I was doing circuits at CYKF in my 172 and the tower cleared an Aurora ahead of me and told me I was number 2 behind him. "Caution wake turbulence," said the tower guy. So I thought, "Hey I'm a cautious person", and decided to stay above his glide path and land beyond his touchdown point. But then that butt head Aurora pilot did a low and over instead. So I decided to just give'er, did a full field circuit and outsmarted him. And now here I am telling you about it.

What I learned from this:

1. Auroras are bigger than me and don't always land.
2. Full field circuits are boring.

The end.

[ettw]

I have not had any unintentional encounters with wake turbulence. Maybe some luck but I'd like to think it has been due to thinking and planning.

Intentional encounters, a few. Let me explain....

I have tried when the opprotunity appears and is safe and coordinated with both aircraft (DHC6), to have my copilot fall in behind another twin and find the vortex. This is done at a safe altitude in HARD VMC. The point to this excersise is to allow the f/o to experience wing tip vortices in a controlled, anticipated, and briefed scenario. The thing I hear most often is that they had underestimated the power of this phenomenon. And this is one 12000 pound aircraft following another 12000 pound airplane. It is quite sobering to roll in more aileron than you might expect the first time. I'd like to think this reinforces the basic training we recieve with respect to wake turbulence.

Flame away, its AVCANADA afterall....

ETTW

[Chinook7]

Following in a 767 on approach into CYYC, I was in a C-172. I started getting rocked approx. 3 miles from the fence. Moderate to severe turbulence at low altitude is incredibly scary to the most experienced of pilots, let alone a young guy trying to earn his private. Needless to say I survived and lived tell about it. The boxers I was wearing were soon after retired from service (to put it nicely) . After I kissed the ground and gave a nice pat to the cowling of my plane... Once I got home I quickly referred to the wake turbulence section of one of my manuals. Never again have I forgotten the criteria of wake separation.

Blue skies and full throttles,

-Chinook

[sanjet]

Took off from EWR behind a 757 in a Q400 and we flew into its wake. Yes we held a few minutes before take off for wake separation and for sure rotated before the 757 rotation point but I guess the 757 climbed like a rocket and we caught it. The aircraft banked and yawed so severely that I thought we had lost the tail. Lasted maybe 2 seconds but it definitely got my heart beat going. Thought it was going to be a normal departure on a CAVOK day...
As for above poster criticizing other pilots for running into wake turbulence, trust me at some points as much as you will endeavor to avoid it, you will experience it in high traffic areas.