ACR Y HAD LESS THAN STANDARD WAKE TURB SEPARATION FROM B767 ON TKOF SAME RWY. SYS ERROR.

Date: 1995-03 · Aircraft: Fokker 100 · Phase: takeoff

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

ACR Y HAD LESS THAN STANDARD WAKE TURB SEPARATION FROM B767 ON TKOF SAME RWY. SYS ERROR.

Narrative

AS Y APCHED RWY 32R ON TXWY P TO TXWY A FOR TKOF I REALIZED HOW SMALL MY FOKKER 100 WAS BY THE 767 TAKING THE RWY AT TXWY B AND THE MD11 BEHIND HIM. I DID NOT KNOW WHICH ACFT I WAS GOING TO FOLLOW AND CHKED THE WIND; 330 AT 10 KTS. JUST ENOUGH XWIND TO BLOW THE UPWIND VORTICES OF A HVY ACFT ONTO THE RWY AND KEEP IT THERE. THE CTLR WAS BUSY SEQUENCING THE ACFT LNDG ON RWY 27R WITH THE RWY 32R DEPS AND THE 767; ACR X ROLLED IN THE SAME GAP AS THE PRECEDING ACFT. I HACKED MY CLOCK. TWR THEN CLRED ME FOR TKOF. ONLY 50 SECONDS HAD LAPSED SINCE THE 767 HAD INITIATED HIS TKOF ROLL. I WAS SHOCKED! THE 767 WAS NOT 5 MI AHEAD OR EVEN CLOSE TO THAT. ASSUMING THE 767 INSTANTANEOUSLY ACCELERATED TO 180 KTS; 3 MPM; THE 767 WOULD STILL BE LESS THAN 3 MI AWAY. I VERIFIED IT ON THE TCASII DISPLAY. REALIZING I COULD NOT HESITATE BECAUSE OF THE RWY 27R ARRS I ASKED FOR 2 MIN BEHIND THE HVY. 'WELL IN THE FUTURE' SAID THE CTLR; IF YOU WANT OTHER THAN STANDARD 5 MI SEPARATION LET HIM KNOW PRIOR TO ENTERING THE RWY. 5 MI WOULD BE FINE; BUT I BARELY HAD HALF OF THAT! I DID NOT LIKE BEING FLOGGED ON THE RADIO BY THE CTLR. FROM MY PERSPECTIVE HE FIRST TRIED TO COMPROMISE THE SAFETY OF MY FLT AND THEN HE TRIED TO INTIMIDATE ME. THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYS IS VERY RESILIENT TO SINGLE POINT FAILURES BECAUSE OF MULTIPLE LAYER OF RESPONSIBILITY AND A TEAMWORK ATTITUDE WHICH THE CTLR DID NOT DISPLAY. THE CTLR WAS TOO FOCUSED ON TRYING TO GET ME IN THE 3 MI GAP OF THE RWY 27R ARRS. THE CTLR MIGHT HAVE BEEN MORE EFFICIENT BY ROLLING THE 2 HVY ACFT BEHIND EACH OTHER DEPENDING ON THEIR DEP VECTORS. REALIZING THE CTLR'S NEED TO ANTICIPATE ACFT SEPARATION; AT ORD IS THE 5 MI TO THE HVY IN FRONT OF AN ACFT WAITING FOR TKOF CLRNC MEASURED FROM THE SAME THRESHOLD (AIM 7-58; A.3.(A))? IS IT MEASURED WHEN THE DEPARTING ACFT STARTS TKOF ROLL (AIM 7-58;E.)?

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