CRJ-900 Captain reported encountering significant wake turbulence on approach to ATL.

Date: 2025-03 · Aircraft: Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900) · Phase: approach

Anomalies: inflight-event-encounter-wake-vortex-encounter|inflight-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control

Synopsis

CRJ-900 Captain reported encountering significant wake turbulence on approach to ATL.

Narrative

We were being vectored for a visual approach to Runway 28 at ATL. The First Officer (FO) was the pilot flying and I was pilot monitoring. We were being vectored behind an Airbus A320 and it seemed like we had at least 5 nm of separation from it; which to me was not enough to encounter any significant wake turbulence. We were not aware of any heavy aircraft that was landing on the parallel Runways 27L or 26R while we were on approach. Before the wake turbulence encounter; we were assigned a speed of 210 kts.As we were on an intercept heading for the Runway 28 localizer abeam WONZR; the aircraft suddenly rolled first to the left; and then to the right. Bank angle was approximately 30 degrees in both direction. I saw my FO immediately grab the control yoke while I shadowed my own controls; and the Autopilot disconnected (not sure if it was because of the wake turbulence or the FO). The FO immediately applied corrective flight control inputs and leveled the airplane. A few moments after that; we encountered a second; less severe wake turbulence encounter which the FO corrected for as well. The aircraft lost no more than 200 feet of altitude between the two encounters.After the wake turbulence encounter; we both felt comfortable to continue the visual approach as we were still at approximately 2;800 feet MSL and far enough away from the FAF to slow down and properly configure the aircraft for landing. Atlanta Approach asked us to keep slowing down as we continued on the approach; gaining on the A320 ahead during the recovery. I believe our separation from the A320 was between 2.5nm and 3nm by the time the A320 touched down.The landing and taxi to the gate were uneventful and we made a report to both Atlanta Approach and Tower. There were no injuries or damage to the aircraft.Cause: I believe this may have been caused by wake turbulence that originated from an aircraft landing on one of the parallel runways. I do recall the winds coming from the northwest; so I believe that the A320 we were following did not produce the wake that we experienced; even if we did start to gain on them. I do not recall seeing any heavy aircraft on final; nor did we ever receive a traffic or wake turbulence warning from ATC.Suggestions: I think this could've been prevented if I had a higher awareness of aircraft that was arriving on the parallel runways. Even if ATC didn't give out traffic advisories for aircraft landing on the parallel runways; the winds were favorable to allow the wake turbulence from those aircraft to drift towards our approach path and potentially induce an upset event. Having ATC point out traffic landing on the parallel runways would've definitely helped with my situational awareness.

NASA callback

Reporter stated he is not sure which aircraft caused the wake encounter.

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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.