Wake turbulence is taught at flight school but it seems we’re still learning just how powerful it can be. Details are emerging of a near disastrous incident in January this year when a business jet went into an uncontrolled roll with the aircraft flipping over three to five times after it hit the wake of an Emirates A380 airliner flying 1,000ft above them in the opposite direction.
The business jet, a MHS Aviation (Munich) Canadair Challenger 604, was flying from Male in the Maldives, to Abu Dhabi, UAE with nine people on board. It was enroute over the Arabian Sea when an Airbus A380-800 was observed by the crew passing 1,000ft above.
After passing underneath the A380 at about 08:40Z, the crew lost control of the aircraft as result of wake turbulence from the A380 and was able to regain control of the aircraft only after losing about 10,000 feet.
The airframe experienced very high G-Loads during the upset, and a number of occupants received injuries during the upset.
A Challenger 604 business jet similar to the one in the incident.
After the crew managed to stabilise the aircraft, the crew decided to divert to Muscat (Oman), entered Omani Airspace at 14:10L (10:10Z), declared an emergency and reported injuries on board. It continued for a landing in Muscat at 15:14L (11:14Z) without further incident. A number of occupants were taken to a hospital, one occupant was reported with serious injuries. The aircraft received damage beyond repair and was written off.
According to information received by the Aviation Herald, the Challenger encountered wake turbulence sending the aircraft in an uncontrolled roll, turning the aircraft around at least 3 times (possibly even 5 times). Both engines flamed out and the aircraft lost about 10,000 feet until the crew was able to recover the aircraft, restart the engines and divert to Muscat.
MHS Aviation told The Aviation Herald, that they can not provide any further details due to the ongoing investigation and Germany’s BFU is investigating the occurrence.