A380 Wake Turbulence Procedures

[Richard Walls]

I don't know if any of the Bay area airports are capable of handling A380's but I'm sure VATSIM pilots will be flying them pretty soon so we should be aware of the wake turbulence implications. I borrowed this from our friends at vZTL.

The FAA has updated the wake turbulence requirements for the new A380

Full details http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/air_traffic/publications/at_notices/media/N7110.478.pdf

Standard air traffic control procedures contained in FAAO 7110.65 and facility letters
of agreement shall be applied in support of the A380 with the following additions/changes:
a. EN ROUTE:
1. Small/large/heavy behind an A380 ? 5 miles
2. When transitioning to terminal airspace ? provide a minimum of 10 miles spacing
3. Include the expression ?SUPER? immediately after the aircraft call sign in communications with a
terminal facility about A380 operations, and when issuing traffic advisories regarding an A380.
4. Visual separation rules specified in FAAO 7110.65, chapter 7, section 2, shall not be applied with
respect to the A380.
b. TERMINAL:
1. Separate aircraft operating directly behind or directly behind and less than 1,000 feet below by:
NOTE
Consider parallel runways less than 2,500 feet apart as a single runway because of the possible effects of wake
turbulence.
(a) Heavy behind A380 ? 6 miles
(b) Large behind A380 ? 8 miles
(c) Small behind A380 ? 10 miles
(d) When applying wake turbulence separation criteria for terminal operations that are defined in
minutes, add 1 additional minute.
2. Use the expression ?SUPER? immediately after the aircraft call sign in all communications with or
about an A380.
3. Visual separation rules specified in FAAO 7110.65, chapter 7, section 2, shall not be applied with
respect to the A380.

[Chuck Barlow]

Yes indeed. SFO is one of two west coast airports capable of handling A380s (along with LAX, of course). One landed there about a week ago, I saw the pictures in the news.

[Inigo Markle-Allen]

I saw it fly over my head in the Marin Headlands (cliffs above the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge) during fleet week. I'll have to post pics when I have time. :)

Imagine what will have to happen to arrival spacing at SFO when one of these babies comes in. 10 mile spacing behind the thing, and visual seperation shall not be applied sort of defeats the purpose of SFO's Simultanious Charted Visual Flight Procedures, since they may NOT be utilized closer than 10 miles behind the airplane. Nobody may even approach the parallel closer than 10 miles behind the airplane because the runways aren't far enough apart.

I was amazed by how QUIET the thing was flying directly over my head at 2500 ft, so I'm sure bay area residents will be happy to be overflown by this super-quiet airplane followed by 10 miles of peaceful quiet wasted space that you could otherwise fit at least three airplanes in!

I just hope they don't fly it in during any busy arrival push times... Hell, imagine what would happen during one of our events! :eek:

[Rob Law]

Yeah Airbus was none too happy when ICAO gave the initial wake turbulence recommendations. They tried like hell to have only a 5 mile sep like all other "heavies"

Rob

[Antony]

Interesting stuff, can't wait till they start using these all the time, and you know you will get pilots flying them SFO - LAX =)

[Jim Thompson]

So who is releasing the first decent A380 payware?

[Matthew Hull]

I saw it fly over my head in the Marin Headlands (cliffs above the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge) during fleet week. I'll have to post pics when I have time. :)

Imagine what will have to happen to arrival spacing at SFO when one of these babies comes in. 10 mile spacing behind the thing, and visual seperation shall not be applied sort of defeats the purpose of SFO's Simultanious Charted Visual Flight Procedures, since they may NOT be utilized closer than 10 miles behind the airplane. Nobody may even approach the parallel closer than 10 miles behind the airplane because the runways aren't far enough apart.

I was amazed by how QUIET the thing was flying directly over my head at 2500 ft, so I'm sure bay area residents will be happy to be overflown by this super-quiet airplane followed by 10 miles of peaceful quiet wasted space that you could otherwise fit at least three airplanes in!

I just hope they don't fly it in during any busy arrival push times... Hell, imagine what would happen during one of our events! :eek:

Yeah, I actually did a trip out in the west coast prior to fleet week when the blue angels were practicing at SFO. As we were taxiing out, we saw the A380 sitting at the north end of the field. WOW was all I could say.

[Greg Marcoux]

I had my first guy flying an A380 into SFO yesterday. Besides the obvious lack of knowledge of flying in general by this particular participant it felt awkward saying SUPER. Of course pilots I have noticed do not know about the SUPER designation and are using HEAVY.

[Martin Harriman]

Just bumping this to point out that the material is now a change notice for 7110.65. So indeed, two-minute departure separation becomes three, and three becomes four (oh goody, hit that 2-minute timer twice, and prepare for unhappy pilots), and it's "Air France eighty four Super." No visual separation allowed.

Joy! and the 747-800 is also on the list now. It, too, gets an additional minute for departure separation, you can't apply visual separation, and it needs a uniform 10 mile separation from everybody (small, large, heavy) in the terminal environment. It's still "Heavy" though. No super for you...

[Richard Parrish]

The 747-800 guys are not going to like not being in a SUPER category [tee-hee]