Knowledgebase›General›Controllers›Wake Turbulence Separation
Wake Turbulence Categories (WTC)
Before talking about the separation that aircraft should have, we must understand what qualifies an aircraft to be in its respective WTC. There are four different categories. However, only three of these categories are available in game due to the lack of an A380 or AN-225.
| WTC | MTOW | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Light (L) | MTOW ≤ 7t | C152, P28A |
| Medium (M) | 7t < MTOW < 136t | A320, B737 |
| Heavy (H) | MTOW ≥ 136t | A330, B757 |
| Super (J) | --------- | A388, A225 |
Confused?
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Separation
Wake turbulence separation can either be distance-based or time-based. As a standard procedure, distance-based wake turbulence separation is used.
| Preceding | Succeeding | Separation |
|---|---|---|
| M | L | 5NM |
| H | L | 6NM |
| H | M | 5NM |
| H | H | 4NM |
| J | L | 8NM |
| J | M | 7NM |
| J | H | 6NM |
Examples
- IFR departure B744 (H) behind IFR departure B744 (H) --> 4 NM
- IFR departure C172 (L) behind IFR departure A388 (J) --> 8 NM
- IFR approach A320 (M) behind IFR approach A320 (M) --> no wake separation needed (no value in the table for this scenario)
- VFR departure C172 (L) behind IFR departure A332 (H) --> 6 NM (separation required as this is a VFR departure)
- VFR approach C172 (L) behind IFR approach A320 (M) --> Wake turbulence warning required (e.g. "D-EIGL, number two, behind mentioned traffic join final runway 04, caution wake turbulence.")