A-388 behind an A-388(Super)

TennATC Rookie Tennessee

Silly discussion from a slow day at the tower but has anybody seen written regulation on spacing between a super and a super. We found it for all other weight classes but not on each other. And this would be for approach control airspace, established on final. Please reference documentation if you respond.
And yes I know there is a nearly zero percent chance of this happening, especially at my airport.

xxDYxx Rookie Florida (KPAM)

That is a good question. The first notice that came out, the one referencing the A380, said that the aircraft was still in the HEAVY category but that it just made more wake than other heavies. Based on that I was going to say 6 miles... but the one about the 388 doesn't have that line, so... yeah, I would still say 6 but I have nothing to back it.

A388 (Oct 09-Sep 10):

http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/m.../N7110.509.pdf

The older A380 (06-07ish):

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publi.../N7110.464.pdf

^^^ At the beginning of the second page you'll see what I was talking about, how it used to be a Heavy.

atcguruaf Rico Suave AZ

of course there is no official word. That being said, I'd treat him as a heavy and give 6 miles. I like to caution on the side of safety.

Stan Marsh Senior Member The Beach

Yep, the aircraft is supposed to be treated as a heavy and be given 6 miles in trail. The "super" category doesn't officially exist as a wake turbulence category. Out here ours are usually about 3 or 4 hours in trail of each other

ZBWer Rookie

We work the A380 into JFK on a daily basis and are required to provide 10 miles behind them. Of course, it's rare that we run standard radar sep into JFK anyway, so no biggie.

TennATC Rookie Tennessee

If "super" wasn't a real wake turbulance class then you would just need 4 miles because it would just be 2 heavies.

duranme Trusted Contributor San Diego (SCT)

6miles heavy behind super heavy
8miles large behind a super heavy
10miles small behind super heavy

thats the word around the FAA

Stan Marsh Senior Member The Beach

Close, the word around the FAA doesn't say "super heavy". It just says heavy behind A388, large behind A388, and small behind A388. This is misleading, because the FAA hasn't defined what exactly a "super" is. The definition of a "heavy" is an aircraft capable of an MTOW greater than 255,000 lbs right? So technically, an A388 is a heavy.

Before someone gets pissed off and re-posts the memo from the FAA regarding the super spacing, I know, I got it. How many supers do you work at your facility compared to mine (JFK exempt)? Thought so

My point being... how much separation do you give for a super behind a super? That memo never defines what a "super" is.... so at my facility, we read that memo to say that in the event that two A388's followed each other, they would need 6 miles separation... since a heavy has to be 6 miles in trail of the super. If I have to go to court over it, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!