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To: mountainlion

Standard separation between aircraft is 3 miles, not 1 mile.


26 posted on 01/04/2020 5:15:42 AM PST by ops33 (SMSgt, USAF, Retired)
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To: ops33; Mark17; mountainlion
I left this first part of the article out of my post, but it is certainly pertinent to this discussion. Figures that this ideas starts in EU.

Please note that these jets flew in the opposite directions, and the Bombardier jet was totaled after this mid-air non-collision.

It was a wild ride.

In 2017, a Challenger 604 business jet was passing under a much larger and heavier Airbus A380 over the Indian Ocean. The A380 was flying 1,000 feet above in the opposite direction. (This may seem dangerously close, but a separation of 1,000 feet is standard procedure.) The smaller jet rolled over at least three times, injuring several passengers. Its cabin looked like a bag of Halloween candy dumped out by a kid, and while it managed to make it safely to an emergency landing in Oman, it was written off. The G-forces it endured exceeded the structural limits of the aircraft.

What had happened?

Two words: wake turbulence. The smaller jet had been caught in the vortices generated by the huge A380. Fortunately, pilots actively avoid situations like this one, and wake-turbulence incidents are very rare. But they are serious.

30 posted on 01/04/2020 5:25:46 AM PST by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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