Sound familiar?  At San Jose International the “caution wake
turbulence, XYZ departing parallel runway” is a more common
term than perhaps the “caution for bird activity in  vicinity of the
airport” on the ATIS. As a pilot do you pay more attention to
birds at SJC than at other airports?  Have you ever hit a bird?
Have you been hit by real, full on, wake turbulence? Sometimes
you might be able to see the birds you are about to hit and may
be able to avoid them, but not so for wake turbulence.  You may
know about it, hear about it, be warned about it and never have
encountered it, until that one time.

I recently had an encounter with what I knew about, was cautious
of, warned about, and had been trained to avoid.  I have always
found that experience is a great instructor, whether your own or
someone else’s.   It is my hope that at least one reader will benefit
from my recent encounter with wake turbulence.

I wanted to get checked out in the Club's Cessna 170 taildragger,
so what better day than a strong crosswind day, ?the kind of day
most CFIs ground their solo students and not many SEL GA aircraft
are in the pattern.  When arriving at the airport in the early afternoon,
I found the windsock almost horizontal and near perpendicular to the
runway, a system was moving in and the airport was landing and
taking off 12 Left and Right.  My courageous instructor arrived and
inquired if I still wanted to do this on such a non-perfect day.
My enthusiastic desires convinced him to let me try ?little did he
know what was about to occur.

The first three times around the pattern were uneventful. The aircraft
behaved in the typical forgiving Cessna tradition, making any pilot look
good.  Our timing was unfortunate as every time we were cleared for
takeoff on 12 Left so did a jet on 12 Right.  As is required, we received
the typical wake turbulence caution from the tower.   Knowing the
strong crosswind was definitely blowing the wake across our runway,
at every takeoff, we held our position for at least one minute after the
jet had rotated and only then began our take off roll.  Neither one of us
had ever experienced any wake beyond just a bump or two in spite of
all the combined takeoffs we had in these situations.  Even so, we
were exercising caution and respect for this unseen menace (or so
we thought).

On our fourth take off, we did not receive a wake turbulence warning
from the tower because the latest jet had already been well departed
prior to our calling for takeoff clearance.  We began the take off roll
and I saw that the jet was considerably “long gone,” yet I still chose to
use a higher than normal initial climb speed, in the event we were to hit
any wake turbulence.  All was uneventful until 150 feet AGL when we
were flipped into a right 90 degree bank and only stopped from continuing
into the inverted by turning the ailerons full left and diving the Cessna
down with bottom rudder for more speed and aileron airflow.  Once the
airspeed picked up, we were able to begin to roll out and lift the nose
back to level and then into a climb.  The rest of the flight around the
pattern was normal.

In retrospect, I never thought I’d find myself intentionally diving a plane
from 150 feet AGL in an attempt to regain control.  Needless to say, the
CFI and I learned a new level of respect for wake turbulence.  The jet
that took off was a mere 737  ?if it would have been a wide body or
worse yet the American MD-11 ?I do not think I’d be here to write this.

Had we augured in, I’m certain the report would have listed the cause as
ignoring wake turbulence warnings.  We in fact were cautious of the wake,
we knew the wind was moving it across our runway, and we took
precautions (although obviously, not enough).  I rotated at the same point
as the other take offs, the 737 was already the same distance out, if not
further as all the other jets were during the uneventful takeoffs and, I
had kept a higher climb out speed, etc. etc..

This goes to show that a pilot can never be too careful or plan ahead enough.
Having experienced this situation first hand, in real life and not in a
simulator, I am now more of a true believer.  If you know it is there, and
during the last 1,000 takeoffs you did not encounter it, keep believing it is
there. You may find it on takeoff number 1,001.   One other lesson I learned
from this was the value of some form of unusual attitude training.  I do not
mean the kind you received as a primary student, I mean very unusual
attitude training that specifically includes inverted, vertical, knife-edge,
spins, etc. The spatial orientation awareness gained by such training is
very critical to increasing your odds of surviving unforeseen situations.
I believe that when our Cessna’s windscreen was filled with a view of
terra firma and no horizon, pulling back on the yoke would have caused
a fatal stall and/or spin.  A few hours of unusual attitude training may
someday save your life.  Ask your instructor or former instructor for a
recommendation on how to obtain unusual attitude training if he of she does
not provide it.  And above all else ?believe that wake turbulence is very
real ? even from 737’s.  Be careful and happy flying.

By an anonymous believer at KSJC