The document is from 2006 and is made by Eurocontrol, you can also find more recent material around on the web, but i found it very easy to understand to give a general point of view.
wake_turbulence.pdf |
Again I'm writing about the best friend of ATCO's, Wake Turbulence, in the last couple of days I was looking for more information to get more knowledge to help me in my job and I found an interesting PDF file under the Skybrary website. The document is from 2006 and is made by Eurocontrol, you can also find more recent material around on the web, but i found it very easy to understand to give a general point of view.
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In the last post I've mentioned about my first solo flight, so the last week we planned some flights around Switzerland and also abroad. First of all we planned a nice triangle between Locarno-Bergamo-Samedan but first the availability of parking in Orio and than the weather, did not match our idea. At the end we took the P28A Archer (HB-PHT) and all four we fly over Buochs, Bern and back to Locarno. It was my first Alps flight and this experience was beautiful with such wonderful panorama. The leg from Bern to Locarno was very nice, we overfly the Susten pass and also the Gothard pass and than fly over all Ticino to see the two Bellinzona's castle from 2000 ft ;-) before a straight in approach on runway 26R. The other day we try again our plan to fly from Bergamo to Samedan, but the weather did not help us, in fact we just fly to Bergamo Orio al Serio, a big hub for Ryanair. The first leg was through Lugano and than Lake of Como, the ATCO were very friendly and I did a straight in approach to runway 10 after a B737 of Ryanair just departed from runway 28, after the payment of the taxes we just departed again towards SRN VOR, Chiasso, Lugano and back to Locarno in a perfect sunny day. After almost seven moths of training, one thing we have learn well, pilots and ATCO's have a common invisible enemy called: WAKE TURBULENCE. At the beginning it's a difficult concept to put in our minds, as we can not see it, but very soon you understand that it's something with serious consequences. I have found an interesting story that I found in internet on those days, in 2008 Mexico’s interior minister Juan Camilo Mourino was among the eight people on board a government-operated Bombardier Learjet 45 who died when it crashed into a street in the financial district when on approach to Mexico City’s international airport. The crash, which started a severe fire, also claimed an unknown number of ground victims because it occurred in a busy thoroughfare. At 18:42, when 2.7nm (5km) from the airport, the aircraft crashed as it was preparing to turn on to final approach for runway 05L. The pilots had just acknowledged a radio frequency change, but did not issue any distress call before the accident, but than Mexican investigators have disclosed that the Learjet was closed to within the minimum in-trail separation distance from a Mexicana Boeing 767-300 just before the accident, despite the pilots' being instructed to reduce speed, to maintain separation in the landing sequence to Mexico City, the Learjet continued to drift towards the preceding 767, and the pilots were suddenly forced to battle turbulence. The executive jet failed to recover from the in-flight upset and crashed into a busy section of the capital city. Images from a ground surveillance camera, released by the Mexican transport ministry, clearly show the 767's lights as it flies overhead and turns to make its final approach to the airport. Shortly afterwards it briefly captures the Learjet diving towards the ground, at a nose-down pitch of 42°-46°, and the explosion on impact. Here below you can see the video that shows first of all the Mexican B767 passing and turning left for the final of the Rwy, after few seconds you will see on the top right corner the Learjet on its nose-down pitch and the impact with the ground. As it was a very serious incident, the Mexican authorities did publish the official communication between the Learjet and the ATCO's for the first time in the Mexican history. From this example, out of many, we can see the importance of provide correct separation and make sure that pilots will comply with that, regarding wake turbulence especially on cases involving Heavy aircraft leading Small/Light aircraft on the final stages of the approach.
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