I was level at 1500' MSL and ATC announced a Gulfstream bizjet crossing from my
right to left, 3000' MSL less than a mile lateral distance. I had my
instrument student do a 360 for wake turbulence separation and dissipation.
ATC questioned my actions and told me the 360 wasn't necessary.

BTW: I was in Class Echo airspace in southern Maine.

I havent been instructing all that long but this did seem to me to be a classic
wake turb encounter in the making. I am interested in hearing from other
pilots and CFII's on this subject. Was I over cautious ? Or prudent.....


The "classic" wake turbulence encounter is flying up the funnel and being
turned over. To do that, your courses would need to be fairly well aligned.
Your encounter sounds like it was more at right angles. You'd get a bump bump
and be through it. By doing a 360, you allowed your course to parallel the
other aircraft's course, and if you didn't know where he was, you risked the
classic encounter as you passed 90 degrees or 270 degrees of your turn.

If it was indeed crossing right to left, I'd have just proceeded on course.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)