Rotor Wash

Dealing with prop wash or jet blast is relatively straightforward: It is directed behind the aircraft. Wingtip vortices are a bit more complicated, but still they are easy enough to visualize. Helicopter rotor wash can almost be seen as a hybrid blend of the two. A recent accident at a Colorado airport implicated the rotor wash from a Blackhawk helicopter in the pattern with a Cirrus. It did not end well for the Cirrus, which dragged a wing tip and cartwheeled while in the landing flare. The drift of rotor wash from the recently departed Blackhawk is suspected as a contributing factor.

 

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