Beyond Proficient | Unpredictable Upset 

I am used to hearing "Caution, Wake turbulence" when landing after a A320. The fact that even a Caravan has sufficient wake to flip my aircraft, albeit when you're quite close, was itself a teachable moment from the video. It'd be quite terrifying for that to happen with my current level of experience. I saw the local flying school advertise this training, this video makes me want to take it even more.

This is a great video and channel. I’m glad he made all these videos before he passed. RIP

Tyler was totally not expecting that to happen. Wow.

I found the wake turbulence behind a Beech 18 while following it in a Cherokee Arrow once. It induced a sudden roll of 60 degrees or so, but I was able to return to level flight within a few seconds.

That was absolutely brilliant. As uncommon as wake turbulence upsets our with GA aircraft, I think it is the best recovery upset training possible for a private pilot. I plan on seeking out the exact training with my own Cirrus aircraft. I say that because not too many buddies will lend me their million dollar aircraft to purposely end up in a nosedive. My biggest fear, if you could call it fear, is a severe aircraft upset in clear air. At least in the clouds your kind of expecting some measure of turbulence. Especially in Tampa, Florida. Bravo!

glider pilots practice a skills maneuver called "boxing the wake” where we go up or down thru the tow plane’s wake at both the tow planes wingtips and centerline. Downwash/ turbulence is very strong at centerline and much less so at wingtips. We are separated by towplane by a 200-ft rope which looks like similar distance as btw Extra 300 and the Caravan. I have done this many times and never experienced a roll off as shown in video. Why don’t gliders get this roll off? were you guys behind centerline or maybe in between centerline and wingtip of the Caravan?

Good video and scenario for us flying small private planes. I am not likely to experience an upset from a 767, but a Caravan or a heavier twin - definitely. This actually happened to me flying into Toronto's lakefront airport around 1988. The view from the Extra, the nose down, aboutn90 degrees of roll, was what I experienced.

I once caught a wake from a Boeing 737 which was taking off while I was on short final at 300 ft in my PA-28-140. It happened to me about 20 years ago at San Jose International airport. I was on short final at 300 ft landing on runway 29 while a Boeing 737 had just lifted off the parallel runway 30. As I hit the wake from the B-737 my airplane started entering a roll to the left if I recall correctly (I was to the left of the B-737). It was a progressive roll - started off small, then the roll progressively became more violent so I started running out of ailerons. I instinctively started left turn by gently pulling on the yoke and radioed that I hit the wake and was going around. My max bank was probably about 50 degrees. Anyway, I successfully recovered, entered back on the downwind about midfield, landed.

Terrific! Best video to date!

If I ever had a wake turbulence encounter it would sure be nice to have the roll authority of an Extra

Good video. Recognizing when you're in wake turbulence is definitely important. Not only can it upset your aircraft in terms of control, but it can also cause issues for your engine. Depending on the speeds you and the lead aircraft are flying, it will change where that wake turbulence is. It can happen even with aircraft crossing flight paths at different altitudes and timings. Letting it move you until you're out of it will help a lot. The feel will be strange at first, but if you don't start slamming on the controls, you'll be able to regain control relatively quickly. If you're approaching from behind and below the aircraft in front of you, the best thing you can do is expect you might be jostled around a bit or in some cases completely rolled 180 degrees if you DO enter its wake. If you have any doubt and have at least a bit of altitude below you, to be safe we'll say 1,000-2,000 feet, I'd recommend not messing with your controls while you're feeling that since it might make the upset worse. As for your engine, I'd also recommend not making any sudden changes in power requests as that can induce a flameout (at least in turbine engines) as the air is already unstable at that point. Ride it out, relax, and recover with the aid of your ADI when it's over. The bouncing around will stop as soon as you're out of that wake and you'll still be in control without losing too much altitude. Then you can treat it like an unusual attitude recovery if you've been rolled more than 60ish degrees. Cheers!

This basic sort of stuff is what we low-hours, recreational pilots need. Cheers.

This is a great example/demonstration!

Today is the first time I have heard of upset recovery. My Instructor, with 10,000+ hours as Instructor/PIC, never even so much as mentioned “Upset Recovery”. After my having 600+ hours as PIC the fact that I am still alive borders on being a miracle.

Wow, that was dramatic. Like peeling off of formation for a strafing run!

Just a great video for training anybody in anything.

RIP Richard.

Good old Five Mike Mike. 😍 I share my home airport with Q400s and look for at least two minutes separation. Last year I got too close to a 1900D and when I felt the uncommanded roll I knew I had screwed up and went around...

Sure wish they'd model this in simulators. Looks like it be really fun to mess around with. They could easily fake it by changing the lift on each individual wing, and tracking the size and location of the turbulence zone. I bet they do that on the military sims. Some day we'll have complete airflow modeled, turbulence and all, but right now computers are no where near capable of the computations required for real time.

Fascinating video....what a great learning experience 👍

Excellent video Richard. How do we overcome the muscle memory to pull when startled? After PPL why not open thinking, iterations, and flight review to the idea that we do not have to pull back to maintain altitude every time we turn? Every Ag pilots makes many, many turns where he/she actually releases back pressure with the bank to start a turn. In this way they actually develop the muscle memory to not load the wing in the turn. For those of us instructors without an Extra, there is also an easy coordination exercise for muscle memory to lead rudder in turns, especially steep turns. It is impossible to be coordinated in Dutch Rolls to 45 degree bank angle (actually in any turn) without leading rudder. If we do not lead rudder, the nose goes the wrong way every time messing up the maneuver. We instructors have all noticed how the tendency to turn the yoke like a steering wheel leads the nose yawing opposite from down aileron drag and then the student getting on rudder to correct. Anyway, the two problems are muscle memory to pull the stick or yoke back and muscle memory to bank with aileron and then coordinate with rudder (actually false coordination.) Again, good job. We appreciate your interest in general aviation and the useful quick analysis of potential problems with various situations and accidents.

Amazing

Thank you

very nice thx guys !

Great video, as always, warm greetings from BKK

That's amazing

Learn from my mistake: One time i was doing touch and goes and a jet (small private jet) was taking off prior to myelanding. The controller said "Caution wake turbulence, cleared to land...". I mistakenly did a touch and go without realizing he cleared me to land, not for "the option", as he had been for the last half hour while i practiced landings for my commercial training. Enough time had passed to allow wake turbulence to not be a factor, but had it not, the consequences could have been terrible so close to the ground, as you can see in video. Always be aware of other plane's wake, and listen carefully for "Cleared to land" as opposed to "Cleared for the option", it could save your life!

Great example video. I think that knowing the wake turbulence is hard to find shows how unexpectedly it'll hit. BTW Not sure if it was intentional or not, but the way the cockpit camera was mounted gave a decent view of Richard talking in the reflection too.

Scott Perdue did a demonstration in his Bonanza where he recommends against rolling through the upset. In other words, don't barrel roll because in heavier aircraft, your altitude loss will be greater than just rolling against the upset. Rolling through may work well for more aerobatic types of airplanes.

I think spin training should be a requirement for PPL, or even pre-solo. I did my spin training during my IR and it made me a much more proficient and confident pilot. Hopefully I’ll never need to use PARE irl but if I do I feel confident that I won’t freeze on the controls bc I’ve seen it before and know how to recover. Muscle memory can save your life, so this is a good reminder to periodically go up for spin/upset avoidance/recovery training even when it’s not required.

Wow, I am surprised by how much upset from a small planes wake turbulence, flying right behind is extreme with not much time to dissipate. Definite change on my perspective of the potential issue.

Good Video. How About One On Rotor Wash, Thank You.

Try that behind a B-737 in a C-172. You may not be able to recover in time at lower altitudes. Better to avoid that possibility like the plague.

Where can we get this type of training at, could you send some info on where or if it's even offered on a regular basis? Thanks!

Perhaps I missed it. What exactly must an airman do in this situation? Are there some steps? Is there an acronym for them ie: Retard throttle, full opposite rudder, ailerons neutral, push yoke briskly fwd...?

I was flying in formation with my dad in two tripacers, and I found the wake.

Great video! Just curious, if I'm on final in a C-172 at say, 400' AGL and encounter a wake upset while at idle power, will there be enough aileron/rudder authority after the PUSH, to roll to the nearest horizon. Will adding power be recommended in that situation to enhance the roll.

All pilots should be able to recover from a spin. Not all pilots can, and so it was removed from the training syllabus (in the U.K). Seems it is not a prerequisite in the U.S too. It has to be. Saves lives and makes one a far better pilot. I went on to do a lot of aerobatics and they’re not for everyone but at least spins must be.

What is not covered in these VFR scenarios are corresponding PFD display changes which might add to the confusion/uncertainty. FOr example the artificial horizon is no longer there for reference, or as th recovery occurs the tilt to the display is so extreme as to be unfamiliar and confusing. Many today do not have the roll-over limitations of prior ones but still the displayed attitude screens would be very different than what we are normally used to and perhaps even more so during different stages of the attempted recovery maneuvers. How the PFD attitude changes will appear as well as any predictable warnings and advisories should be known for the particular installed system to avoid apparent conflicts, confusion, and uncertainty at the worse possible time. For most PFD systems the operator manual is very sketchy regarding all this.

Reminds me of glider Pilots “Boxing the Wake”

Why is it bad to oppose wake turbulence with aileron? Does the upward moving wing have enough of an AoA change that an aileron input would stall it?

How can you get this type of training as a regular dude? **Thanks for the video.

Point of clarification. If inverted, are you still supposed to “push”, which would point the nose higher, increasing angle of attack in that state?

Nice to have altitude under the plane? 🛩️

Excellent video. I’m curious how a pilot would react in a plane equipped with a more simple wet sump oiling system. Would oil starvation be a significant concern?

I am a little confused…is this like a spin recovery or are you just lowering the nose (unloading) and leveling the wings with the ailerons?

Once I flew with ultralite CTSW into wake turbulence induced by C172. I even did not understand why my plane suddenly rolled left and then right in an absolutelly quite air. This was my first solo cross-country :) I knew, wake exists, had already SPL license but this was still a kind of shocking moment. P. S. Wake from a helicopter would be even worser

So that's why fighter jet formations look the way they do...

It can certainly be startling when you catch wake /prop turbulence from the airplane in front of you. Luckily when I experienced this for the first time I was following a Cessna 152 in my Cessna 150 so it wasn't as violent as what you guys were demonstrating and didn't cause any upsets

EU: Instrument rating annual revalidation - we do this annually on every annual instrument rating revalidation under the hood recover using instruments alone.

Question about this: If you're upside down from an upset situation, why would you want to push? Wouldn't that load the wings and decrease your airspeed, risking a stall?

You are missed, thank you Spads…

A 767 encountering wake turbulence behind a Piper Cub on final would be unexpected. Since the purpose of this flight was upset recovery, it doesn't quite rise to the level of an unexpected and unpredictable encounter. I once encountered some CAT at altitude that slammed us hard enough to dislodge a couple of cowling connectors. Fortunately, enough remained to keep it attached even at cruise speed, but the surprise of those events is hard to duplicate intentionally.

As much as I am learning few recovery techniques from this. I don’t think departure or arrival wake turbulence will result in safer outcome because we won’t have the luxury of being at 4500 or 3500 feet. Please post any link you might have on departures and arrivals wake turbulence. Thank you in advance. Ps I know prevention is the best solution.

Doing this in an Extra seems like it is cheating a bit. It would have been more realistic to use a 172 that doesn't have +6 -3 specs. I have had it happen to me in a 172 just post takeoff in clear air and it was quite unsettling.