Quote:
Originally Posted by Seaver
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.
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Wow, that's a lot of runways. Other then landing once in the middle of the night on a C-5 MAC flight I just have no experience with military air bases. I used to land private planes all the time at Tillamook, Oregon which is and old WWII blimp base. Blimp bases don't have a need for a large number of runways.
And you can follow close, just be a higher altitude. The turbulence is naturally pushed down as it leaves the aircraft. I've always wonder about how much planning and effort went into figuring exactly out how far back the plane being fueled in mid air fueling maneuvers is positioned.