What wake turbulence category do we fall into?

• A. Medium
• B. Lower Large
• C. Small
• D. Very Large

Answer: (B)

Wake turbulence category is tied to how heavy the aircraft is, specifically its maximum certificated takeoff weight. This category tells air traffic control how much wake you should expect from the plane in front of you and therefore how much separation you need.

Our fleet sits heavier than Small and Medium aircraft but isn’t among the heaviest jets. Some training systems split the Large category into two subgroups: Lower Large and Upper Large, to reflect differences in wake strength within the Large category. Our airplanes fall into Lower Large because their weights place them at the lighter end of Large, producing wake that’s more significant than Medium but not as strong as the heaviest Very Large jets.

So the wake turbulence category we fall into is Lower Large.