Just spoke to a friend with 26,000 hours. He confirmed that DC-8 and 707
heavies certainly do get a bump as they fly through their own wake
during a 360 degree constant altitude turn. He also said that some
Category D simulators include the effect in their motion repertoire.

Rip


Kev wrote:
On Apr 16, 10:22 am, Jose wrote:
My wake _should_ descend about 150' during that time (300
fpm). I can't imagine a C172 wake being tall enough to stay in my
way...
I can. 150 feet is not tall at all for a wake. Remember, the air
around the wake is also being dragged by the wake vortex.

Hmm. We're going to have to define a wake, methinks. I can't find
anything about body wakes, for example. Do they give much of a
bump? Glider pilots, are you listening?

On the other hand, wingtip vortices are a well-researched topic, and
if a Boeing 727's is only 9' in radius, it would be hard to imagine a
vortex being more than 5 feet in radius for a C172, if that much.
Even if larger, and sinking very slowly, it should still be 50-150'
below the aircraft if the other parameters (altitude, wind) are
static.

Regards, Kev