Book Description

Experience as a consultant to the Safety Office at Norton AFB led to compiling the engineering tools presented so that this report can be used by engineering personnel to investigate future incidents/accidents and existing USAF operations that are impacted by the vortical wake hazard. The approach presented is amenable to easy hand computations. Mixed airplane/helicopter operations can be assessed, since the engineering tools to determine the location and strength of the rotor downwash field behind a helicopter are presented. Finally, a simplified mathematical model is given to represent this hazard for use in USAF simulators, to make pilots aware of the problems associated with operating in wake-contaminated airspace.