What is wake turbulence and how can it be avoided?

When an aircraft is flying, the wingtip vortices produced by the aircraft slowly descend behind the airplane. When the aircraft touches down, the vortices end. By flying your airplane above their flight path, and landing beyond their touchdown point, you're almost guaranteed to avoid a wake turbulence encounter.



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To summarise those points in terms of enroute wake avoidance, and effect limitation:
  1. Fly above their path.
  2. Position yourself upwind away from the wake path.
  3. Try to be at least 3 minutes behind the aircraft when crossing the path.
  4. And cross perpendicular to the wake path, to avoid inducing a roll.


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However, the vortex strength from an aircraft increases proportionately to an increase in operating weight or a decrease in aircraft speed. Since the turbulence from a “dirty” aircraft configuration hastens wake decay, the greatest vortex strength occurs when the generating aircraft is HEAVY, CLEAN, and SLOW.

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Wake turbulence categories
  • Light (L) — aircraft types of 7,000 kg or less.
  • Medium (M) — aircraft types more than 7,000 kg but less than 136,000 kg; and.
  • Heavy (H) — all aircraft types of 136 000 kg or more, with the exception of aircraft types in Super (J) category; and.


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AVOID THE AREA BELOW AND BEHIND THE WAKE GENERATING AIRCRAFT, ESPECIALLY AT LOW ALTITUDE WHERE EVEN A MOMENTARY WAKE ENCOUNTER COULD BE CATASTROPHIC. A common scenario for a wake encounter is in terminal airspace after accepting clearance for a visual approach behind landing traffic.

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Pilots can also avoid wake turbulence by flying above, below, or to the side of the path taken by other planes while at cruise altitude. To avoid the effects of wake turbulence, stay above the flight path of the larger aircraft on its approach and land past its touchdown point.

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Avoid wake turbulence by flying far enough behind other aircraft. Adhere to the ATC spacing buffer, especially when taking off or landing behind a “heavy” or “super” aircraft. Pilots can also avoid wake turbulence by flying above, below, or to the side of the path taken by other planes while at cruise altitude.

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Wingtip vortices make up the primary and most dangerous component of wake turbulence. Wake turbulence is especially hazardous in the region behind an aircraft in the takeoff or landing phases of flight. During take-off and landing, an aircraft operates at a high angle of attack.

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On Monday 3 March 1997 at 1014 hours, privately owned and operated Cessna 185 encountered wake turbulence from previous departing aircraft, the pilot lost control of the aircraft at a height from which recovery was not possible and the aircraft descended to the ground.

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Using weather radar
Most commercial aircraft now pack weather radar – from the Airbus A321 to the Boeing 777. Weather radar can pick up weather systems sufficiently ahead to warn of precipitation and turbulence, allowing the fast-moving aircraft to divert in time to equally protect the humans and the aircraft.

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Wake turbulence from a large enough aircraft will cause the one following to flip and possibly crash into the ground.

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Routes with the Most Turbulence
  • New York to London.
  • Seoul to Dallas.
  • Flying into certain airports near the equator. There are certain airports which are located close to the equator which means frequent thunderstorms, especially in certain seasons. ...
  • Flying into Reno, Nevada. ...
  • London to South Africa.


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The worst seats on an airplane for turbulence are the jump seats in the back of the plane, where the flight attendants sit, followed by the passenger seats towards the back of the aircraft.

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It's almost unheard of for turbulence to cause a crash, but it can lead to costly repairs for carriers. Usually, the damage is to cabin components like seats and overhead bins when luggage falls out or people hit them.

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