Case Study Analysis of Wake Vortex Encounters in UTLS

__________________________________________________________________________ Title: Case Study Analysis of Upper-level Wake Vortex Encounters.

By: James P. Johnson and Robert D. Sharman, PhD.

This paper presents results of analysis of case studies of aircraft that encountered wake vortices in the Upper Troposphere Lower Stratosphere (UTLS).

Wake Vortex encounters by aircraft at cruising altitudes can result in slight displacements in the aircrafts horizontal flight path to full aircraft upsets. These cases occurred at separation distances greater than currently required which brings to light questions in regard to NextGen's proposed reduction in aircraft separation.

An analysis of atmospheric conditions in connection with each encounter was done to investigate any commonalities in conditions that may correlate to behavior of a wake vortex at cruise altitudes.