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7-12 runways? Is this a military thing? LAX has 4 runways, which you could call 8 if you include changes in flight patterns. i.e. 36 inbound north becomes 18 inbound south. No, I didn't look up LAX runway headings, just used a generic north south runway number.
And it's not just "jetwash" you get the same effect in small planes. The front plane creates air turbulence and can cause the rear plane to either loose lift and stall or spin suddenly. As you state side by side is much, much safer.
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The base I basically grew up on had 7, and it was a small base. There were 3 in a triangle formation which had parallel runways (6), and the other was one very large one for the unlikely Galaxy landing. The parallel runways are designed in case of aerial attacks, you have multiple runways which increase your chance of an intact runway if someone bombs it. Also, you now have 4 aircraft taking off at the same time as opposed to 2.
And no it's not technically "jetwash", however it's in essence the same. It's the turbulence which comes from the rear jet engine mixed with the vortexes caused by not only the wings but rear fins. I used the term jetwash because it's pretty much all encompassing. In short, you don't want to follow too closely.