Crossing The Streams

All pilots and controllers know about wake turbulence, the vortices streaming out and downward from an airplanes wingtips anytime its generating lift. We know theyre strongest when the generating airplane is heavy, clean and slow. We know not to fly in-trail of a larger airplane at the same altitude unless there are at least three minutes separation, preferably more.

Editorial Staff

Monday, June 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Wake turbulence is a significant aviation hazard, especially for smaller aircraft, capable of causing immediate loss of control and even in-flight structural breakup.
A dangerous misconception exists that crossing wake vortices at a right angle mitigates their threat, making them merely a "bump."
A fatal 2013 Piper Arrow II accident, caused by encountering an MD-80's wake at a right angle and the same altitude, demonstrated that such perpendicular crossings are extremely hazardous and can lead to catastrophic loss of control.

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All pilots and controllers know about wake turbulence, the vortices streaming out and downward from an airplane’s wingtips anytime it’s generating lift. We know they’re strongest when the generating airplane is heavy, clean and slow. We know not to fly in-trail of a larger airplane at the same altitude unless there are at least three minutes’ separation, preferably more.

We know to land beyond a preceding large airplane’s touchdown point and lift off before where it rotated. We know to either outclimb it—good luck with that in most personal airplanes—or turn away from a departing jet’s wake as soon as possible after takeoff. We also know that surface winds can blow a wake vortex back onto the runway and leave it there, just for us.