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Wake Turbulence

Asked by: 2655 views Student Pilot

My solo did not go quite the way I had imagined, and a question has been bugging me since then.  The pattern got busier after my instructor got out of the plane, of course.  During my 2nd trip thru the pattern, the tower told gave me an extended downwind, to come in number 2 behind two A-10's.  I couldn't spot them, as they were coming straight in high and fast,  so the tower called my base turn and cautioned me for wake turbulence.  On final, I was watching where on the runway the right hand plane touched down, but then realized I couldn't picture what any wake turbulence would be doing.  We were on Rwy 26 with winds 230 @ 8 kts.  The right hand A-10 did a touch n' go, the left hand one stayed with him and did a low approach, and it was a touch n' go for me.  My instructor had covered wake turbulence considerations for take offs and for landings, but not for something like this.  I realize A-10's are not the same as 747's, but still, how should I have handled this?

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1 Answers



  1. Mark Kolber on Jan 02, 2016

    I’m trying to visualize and may fail so forgive me if this doesn’t make sense

    You have two independent considerations here because of the touch and go. So let’s separate them.

    The wingtip vorticies that result in wake turbulence are as susceptible to the movement of the ambient air as anything else. So with a crosswind from the left, the vorticies will move to the right relative to your position. The wind is not that strong so I would be concerned that, although the vortex from the A-10s’ right wingtip might have moved off the runway, the one from the left wingtip might well but right in the middle of the runway. So, having aside the touch and go, I would still plan the usual response – maintain a glidepath above the other airplane’s glidepath and touch down beyond where the airplane landed unless you are landing 2-3 minutes later..

    What makes your situation different is that one of them did a touch and go and the other didn’t touch down at all. That means lift – and therefore wingtip vortices and the associated wake turbulence – were continually being produced along the runway. You are left with your 2-3 minute separation. If I didn’t have that separation, my response is simple – go around, moving toward or a little beyond the left side of the runway.

    The FAA has a pretty good training guide for pilots and controllers on wake turbulence – https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/training/media/wake/04SEC2.PDF. If you look at page 30, you’ll see a depiction of what I think you are talking about.

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