Video of wake turbulence knocking a light aircraft out the sky, plus avoidance tips

[CFIDave]

A few months ago I decided to practice landings (pattern work) in our Epic E1000 at nearby Martinsburg, WV (KMRB) with its nice long wide 8000 foot runway and usually very little traffic. KMRB has an FBO with GA operations on the south side, but the north side is military where multiple 4-engine 500,000 pound wide-body C-17 transport aircraft are based.

Just as I arrived, a C-17 crew *also* decided to practice multiple landings. The KMRB tower had us fly left traffic patterns, with the C-17 assigned right traffic patterns doing touch-and-go's. (The Epic actually requires "stop-and-go's" on the runway since it's necessary to stop and add right electric rudder trim before every takeoff to counter the torque from 1200 hp.) Both we and the C-17 flew around the pattern 5 times, alternating our landings.

On every downwind I very carefully watched where the C-17 touched down on the runway, so I could make sure I touched down beyond that point. And I lifted off before the point where the C-17 rotated. It all worked out very nicely, completely avoiding any wake turbulence.

[Colin]

(Thread Drift)

If you were doing a go around you wouldn't get to stop and add electric rudder trim, so do you just use the rudder pedals? Could you be a little gentle with the application of power?

[CFIDave]

If you were doing a go around you wouldn't get to stop and add electric rudder trim, so do you just use the rudder pedals? Could you be a little gentle with the application of power?

You're correct that you don't have time to quickly add the electric rudder trim on a go-around, but you're already flying an Epic at 95 knots (Vref) on short final, with rudder pedals (and smooth application of throttle) sufficient to control the torque when adding power. During Epic factory training I demonstrated this multiple times. But on the runway when intending to rotate before the point where a C-17 rotated, I needed to apply full power for takeoff.

[Boatguy]

On every downwind I very carefully watched where the C-17 touched down on the runway, so I could make sure I touched down beyond that point. And I lifted off before the point where the C-17 rotated. It all worked out very nicely, completely avoiding any wake turbulence.

Do you know how far behind you C-17 you were in time when you landed past their touchdown?

And on the takeoffs, how much time was between the C-17 roll and your roll? You were climbing faster and made a left turnout while the C-17 went right? That seems like the ideal situation, but not always the case in the real world.