Superjumbo freak mishap forces overhaul
AIRSERVICES Australia changed its procedures for flights at Sydney airport after a turboprop commuter plane was involved in a freak mishap because of wake turbulence from an Airbus A380 superjumbo landing on another runway.
The SAAB 340 was on a 14km final approach for runway 34 right in November last year, the Australian reports.
It was descending through an altitude of about 2400ft when it experienced an uncommanded roll, the nose pitched down and it dropped 300-400ft .
The crew managed to regain control after about 15 seconds when the autopilot disengaged but a passenger suffered minor injuries in the upset.
The incident raised new concerns about the giant jets and the impact on smaller planes flying behind and those landing on nearby runways.
The circumstances are unusual enough that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau yesterday released a report alerting international safety agencies to the problem.
Wake turbulence is caused by vortices - horizontal twisters - generated by an aircraft's wingtips. Bigger planes generally generate bigger vortices and they have been known to upset smaller following planes, and even cause crashes.The SAAB was not following the A380 but on a different runway 1km to the west.
Hoppla, da stellt man sich die Frage, ob es in der Praxis zu anderer Art der Ausbreitung von Wirbelschleppen kommen kann, als im Windkanal oder im Computer berechnet.....
