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-   -   High Altitude Flying 101 (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=142393)

rolivi 10-11-2016 10:54 PM

i'd probably have stayed at my altitude but deviated behind him until he was abeam.

Same concept - let the wake playout - but deviating behind is less control changes and looks better on the radar track.

smokyray 10-17-2016 01:23 PM

Big Sky, Little Airplane...
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by jtppalmer050390 (Post 1115989)
So my wife and I flew to middle GA this weekend. I always fly around ATL class B. However, this time we were flying much higher than I usually fly. We were at 9,500 ft and saw a plane on my ADS-B. Looked to our left and it was a Southwest jet. It crossed two miles in front of us and we saw it clear as day. Really cool to see and then I started thinking about wake turbulence. I immediately started to climb and by the time I got to were the jet had passed in front of us, I was 500 ft above its path. We didn't feel any turbulence at all. I was just wanting to ask everyone if this is what they would have done? Also, if we had gone directly under its path, would we have gotten a lot of turbulence? What is a safe distance to avoid serious wake complications?

Hi Tommy,
First, as a 737 Pilot for the Company who's wake you avoided, glad you saw us!
Secondly, as mentioned above, 9,500' in an RV isn't really high altitude operations, a better descriptive title for this episode notwithstanding...
There are lots of great videos on wake turbulence and the avoidance thereof, searching the web will keep you entertained for quite awhile.

Good job avoiding the wake, even in large jets it can get your attention when you enter it, especially when slow, configured for landing and behind a Jet with "Heavy" attached to their call-sign.
ATC does that for several reasons, not the least of which is to identify them as a wake turbulence hazard.

V/R
Smokey

PS: Flight following when over or around class B airspace is not only a good idea, but de-conflicts YOU (little guy) with US (bigger guy) and helps your SA immeasurably :)

BenNabors 10-17-2016 02:00 PM

Think about the question in a different way
 
Two miles at 180 MPH it takes 40 seconds to be where the other aircraft is now. Would you want to fly through the wake 40 seconds behind a jet? Now think about the jet weighing 200,000+ pounds and flying through the wake in plane with a gross weight of 1800 pounds. :eek:
I would say good call to move up.

Michael Henning 10-17-2016 04:39 PM

I'm a retired controller (center controller), the only time we are required to issue a wake turbulence warning is dealing with jets that are capable of taking off weighing more than 300k pounds. I have had JetBlue pass right over top of me (I was at 10.5, he was about 1k above me) on the same course. Not even a ripple.

rockwoodrv9 10-17-2016 04:46 PM

Since I am building a fast RV 9A, I would have just passed him and let him feel my wake!

I had to deal with rotor wash today - and everyday at my hangar. KEUL has a very active helicopter school and they blow things around quite a bit. They played heck with some painted parts today. I imagine landing behind one of them would be interesting. They land on the taxi way here but it is pretty close to the runway.


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