WHY do pilots say HEAVY? Wake Turbulence

Hello, and welcome Now I'm pretty sure many of you have seen airplanes approaching airports all lined up like pearls on a necklace Coming in one by one. Now, they seem to be all flying at a safe distance from each other as this is the work of the approach controller. Now he makes sure that the airplanes have enough separation from each other by vectoring them with given headings and controlling their speed onto the instrument landing system. Now the planes land as such that they have enough time to vacate the runway at the suitable taxiway before the next plane comes to land.  an Airbus A320 is just landing and you can already spot the next airplane, a Boeing 777, right behind it.

But the reason for this separation is not just the time to vacate the runway, actually, the primary reason is wake turbulence avoidance. So what is wake turbulence? Now, wake turbulence or wing vortex occurs when the wing is generating lift. Now, if air below the wing is drawn around the wingtip into the region above the wing by the lower pressure on the upper side of the wing Causing a vortex to trail from each wingtip. Now the strength of the wingtip vortex is determined primarily by the weight of the airspeed and the angle of attack of the aircraft. Now the higher the angle of attack and the heavier the plane, the stronger the wake turbulence becomes. turbulence but keep in mind this is only an ultralight airplane with a maximum weight of roughly 450 kilos, but it's impressive how quickly the wakes appear. So imagine the wake turbulence a Boeing 747 generates with a maximum landing weight of 302 tonnes and wake turbulence is a serious threat for the preceding plane.

Nasty downdrafts and sudden excessive roll rates get the plane in an upset state you do not want to experience on short final as a pilot or as a passenger. Numerous testing has shown that wingtip vortices have an estimated sink rate of 400 feet per minute and come to rest at 800 feet below the airplane's flight path where it is considered safe to fly across the dissipating wake. So let's determine the minimum separation needed between two Airbus A320's now we are definitely going to need two minutes and that is the time it takes to wake to descend 800 feet and Two minutes at an average approach speed of 130 knots results in 4.3 nautical miles minimum separation distance now at 64.5 times maximum landing weight the A320 is not the heaviest aircraft out there. So the ICAO came up with the wake turbulence Weight categories now write this down because these numbers will be in your HPL exam. Category L is for lightweight - So any plane up to 7 tons or less. category M for the medium is for 7 tonnes up to a hundred and thirty-six tons and Anything heavier than that is categorized as heavy, but as usual, there is an exception So listen to the ATC call of my dear friend Paulo Alexander Bukarest control, very good morning Qatar 13VP "SUPER" at level 390 As he flies the Airbus A380 ICAO had to introduce a new category for aircraft with a take of weight up to 560 tonnes named Super, so as mentioned a minute ago the heavier the plane the larger and more intense the wakes are the more separation is needed between the planes.

now British Airways 777 has just landed categorized as heavily followed by a medium category Airbus A320 now you can see there's a significantly larger gap between both airplanes and as ICAO regulates if a medium follows a heavy aircraft Their minimum separation has to be 5 nautical miles now This can go up to 8 nautical miles for instances a light aircraft like a Cessna Caravan follows an Airbus A380. But if a heavy aircraft follows a lighter aircraft they aren't affected as much by the wake due to the Actual heavier weight and are safe at a distance of 4 nautical miles. But it's not just the ATC controller's responsibility to vector you accordingly you as a pilot have to keep the necessary distance in order to not get into the wake turbulence of the preceding aircraft. But how do you know as the pilot? What type of plane is ahead of you? And this brings us to the main question of the video. That's the reason why pilots flying airplanes categorized as heavy creating the more severe turbulence mentioned their category at the end of their call sign So as a pilot, you should pay close attention to who you following Especially when intercepting the ILS at a lower altitude than your preceding airplane and wakes aren't just a threat during landing; a similar procedure applies during takeoff now very often you can see a heavy Airbus A330 departing and then a smaller Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 waiting on the runway for their takeoff clearance and the waiting period is a safety measure to let the wake turbulence dissipate before the lighter aircraft commences takeoff. Now you say that's not true I've seen turboprops rolling down a runway right after a heavy has taken off. Yes, that's true this can happen but there's something very important to keep in mind Wake turbulence as mentioned before are first Generated when the plane rotates meaning creating lifts over the wing so if the turboprop pilot closely monitored the lift-off point of the preceding plane and Knows his takeoff roll will be shorter He can immediately commence takeoff as he will fly over the flight path and wakes of the preceding plane also During cruise flying through the contrail of an aircraft can get very turbulent So avoid flying through those especially with passengers in point Now these strong rotors upon landing are no joke They are so powerful that houses close to airports have to have special roof tiles as in the past They have caused many damages Especially if you're in flight school and feel the need to fly to a big international Airport for a low approach with your little Cessna and besides the tower control that will warn you about the wakes.

Keep a safe distance Because getting flipped over by awake isn't cool at all. And if it doesn't feel safe you can always Go around also be aware of hovering helicopters in the vicinity of the runway There wakes can be as powerful as a medium categorized aircraft. And by the way, speaking of flight school Have we ever thought why a glider plane always flies a little higher than its preceding tow plane Think about it and as always Concord had her own rules although Concorde fell into the category of a medium-weight Aircraft due to her excessive angle of attack upon landing Her delta-wing created wake turbulence as strong and as dangerous as the ones of jumbo and therefore the pilots had to say speed bird Concorde too heavy! God, I miss this plane That's it for today Thank you very much