Wake vortices... a sterile danger?

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was at a place today from where I had a nice, clear view of the Dubai
Airport runway all day long. For about 3 hours in the morning, and
another 2-hour period in the afternoon, a string of aircraft took off
virtually tailing one another. Most of them were A330s, and the rest
were 747s and A340s, with the odd A320 and 737.

Makes me ask you folk this... are wake vortex caveats for real? How do
you manage when in a queue of big jets?

Ramapriya
ayirpamarATgmailDOTcom

Wake vortices are very real and they can ruin your whole day if you let 'em.

I was standing right under the approach path at Lakeland Linder (during the
Sun N Fun fly-in) when a DC-9 landed. 20 seconds or so later, after the jet
noise faded, you could hear the vortices it left behind. It sounded like
someone was tearing apart a bedsheet the size of a football field. Then, the
vortices descended to ground level and whipped up twin horizontal tornados
of the fine grey sand they have down there. Tents flapped and towels shook
in the wind, and after a few more seconds it all faded away.

It was kind of spooky, but very impressive.

KB

I was standing right under the approach path at Lakeland Linder (during
the Sun N Fun fly-in) when a DC-9 landed. 20 seconds or so later, after
the jet noise faded, you could hear the vortices it left behind. It
sounded like someone was tearing apart a bedsheet the size of a football
field. Then, the vortices descended to ground level and whipped up twin
horizontal tornados of the fine grey sand they have down there. Tents
flapped and towels shook in the wind, and after a few more seconds it all
faded away.

We used to watch airliners land at Milwaukee's Mitchell Field (now Mitchell
International). When the wind was right, you could park right beneath the
approach path, and they'd go right over our heads, maybe 100 feet off the
ground.

The ripping sound made by their wingtip vortices was really amazing, just as
you describe. They would swirl all around you, long after the plane was
gone.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"