B737-800 flight crew reported encountering wake turbulence on descent into MIA in trail of a B777. The flight crew felt the Controller's response to their request for assistance to avoid the wake was unprofessional and unhelpful.
Synopsis
B737-800 flight crew reported encountering wake turbulence on descent into MIA in trail of a B777. The flight crew felt the Controller's response to their request for assistance to avoid the wake was unprofessional and unhelpful.
Narrative
Nothing he could do. I was a bit surprised. The event lasted between 10-20 seconds. I called the flight attendants to make sure that they were ok. They had already been 'prepared to land' so they were all sitting down. I thought well it was a one time thing so we simply continued on the arrival. A relevant point to the whole experience was that the controller was agitated to begin with. When we came on frequency he was very frustrated (probably rightfully so) because he had to repeat a frequency 3 times to another aircraft in his airspace. Anyway; I would guess maybe 5 minutes later we experienced another wake turbulence event. This one kicked the autopilot off and rolled the aircraft accompanied by turbulence (worse than the first one.) I reported the event to the controller again; and it seemed like he either didn't believe me or didn't care. Then we had our third wake turbulence event and it was worse that the previous 2. I then called out; and advised ATC and stated that I needed a vector to escape the B777 wake turbulence. There was no response. The controller ignored my radio call. Maybe 30 seconds to a minute later the controller asked me if I wanted to request priority handling. I said yes. He then asked me the nature of my event. I was sort of dumbfounded because I had been telling him repeatedly what my issue was. So I told him again what the problem was. I can't remember what he said but it was sarcastic. He gave me a vector of 270 degrees which took me off the STAR; I was relieved. He then asked me fuel and souls onboard and I told him. I was asked if I wanted to cancel priority handling. I honestly didn't think I could 'cancel ' priority handling and told the controller that. The whole thing really upset me. I was experiencing significant /violent wake turbulence; I was telling the controller what was going on and honestly felt like the controller was working against me. I have been at this company for many years; I was in the military for many years before that and never experienced anything like that. I found it hard to focus flying down final. Landing was uneventful.Cause: Several things here. It may be possible that the separation requirements for aircraft may need to be investigated. The reason I say this is because I am 100% certain that we were experiencing wake turbulence from the aircraft in front of us. Once we were vectored off the STAR the events stopped. I am aware that the controllers are overworked and that the system is 'strained' right now and has been for a while. I feel confident that is part of the problem too. He obviously did not believe what I was telling him and the supervisor that I spoke to when I arrived at the gate did not believe me either. The bottom line for me is that I needed help from the controller and did not receive it. Not until I requested priority handling and even then he was not helpful. I felt like his responses actually made the situation worse.
Second reporter narrative
Descending on BNFSH3 arrival into MIA (in very smooth air) just below 12;000 ft we encountered an area of wake turbulence. Advised the controller of this and he very sarcastically told us we were behind (can't recall the quoted distance) and about 2000ft above a heavy 777; I don't know what to tell you guys" or something along those lines. We had just previously listened to this controller berate another pilot because he had to repeat a frequency to him 3 times. This controller was obviously irritated with something and very unprofessional in his attitude and demeanor. Cpt had then checked with the crew making sure they were ok in the back. They were already seated at this point and ok. A few minutes later; around 8700ft we again encountered the wake turbulence and this time it rolled us pretty rapidly causing the autopilot to disengage. I made the control corrections while the Cpt (pilot monitoring) again advised the controller of the wake and requested priority handling. No response from the controller to our situation and he (the controller) proceeded to talk with 2 other aircraft and finally; again sarcastically; asked what our issue was or something along those lines. Cpt advised again of the wake turbulence and we needed a turn away. Controller asked if we were requesting priority handling and Cpt basically said if that's what is required to get vectors away then yes we are. While this conversation was happening I had reengaged the autopilot and we then; for the third time; encountered the wake and again it caused the autopilot to disengage. Once we were vectored away from the arrival it was smooth air until landing. Cpt asked to talk to the controller which was ignored. The controller then asked why we were requesting priority handling and for souls and fuel onboard? Cpt explained we were requesting priority handling because of the heavy wake turbulence. The controller again sarcastically said all I want to hear from you now is the souls on board and fuel onboard...and nothing else! While being vectored the controller again sarcastically said he was just advised (from someone behind him) that if we are still requesting priority handling because the equipment would need to be rolled; is that what we wanted? Cpt said we didn't need the equipment and the only reason he had to request priority handling was because our need to be vectored away from wake encounter was ignored but since he had already provided priority handling then yes roll the equipment if that's what's required. We can't cancel priority handling. After a non eventful; normal landing was made we advised the tower and fire chief nothing needed to be checked and we normal taxied to the gate and shut down. Cpt asked for a supervisor to discuss the situation we just encountered and the supervisor basically blew him off (from what I could hear of the conversation). I have been with the company for not quite a long time but I have previously been in corporate aviation as Cpt and Chief Pilot roles for many years. This was by far the worst case of a controller non professionalism I have ever experienced or heard of in all my years of flying. The controller was obviously irritated with something and should not have been at the scope that evening. He was definitely a safety risk.Cause: While the controller may have thought we should have been clear of the wake turbulence area from the preceding heavy; it was obvious we were not. I'm not sure if he thought we were making it up or experiencing something else but his sarcastic attitude was very unprofessional. Not sure what we could have done on our end to mitigate this earlier on but after the second wake encounter and after our advised ATC...was ignored we were forced to request priority handling...thereby forcing the controller to vector us off the arrival and away from the wake turbulence."
NASA callback
Reporter stated he has noticed an increasing trend of Controllers ignoring or expressing doubt about pilot reports of wake turbulence encounters.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.