SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/pilot-wake-heavy-clean-slow

Wingtip vortices are strongest when the airplane making them is what?

Heavy, clean, and slow.

  1. Light, dirty, and fast
  2. Heavy, clean, and slow ✔
  3. Heavy, dirty, and fast

Why: Wake turbulence comes from lift. A heavy airplane flying slowly with flaps and gear up (clean) makes the strongest vortices, which is why takeoffs and landings of big jets matter most.

Huh, didn't know that: The AIM warns that a light quartering tailwind requires maximum caution, because it can hold vortices over the runway.

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Sources

  1. AIM 7-4 Wake Turbulence https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap7_section_4.html

Test yourself in the game

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