Narrative:

While getting vectored onto the final approach course we were told by ATC we would be following a 757. We visually acquired the aircraft we were following as they were coming from the other direction to land ahead of us on our assigned runway. As we were turning to intercept the localizer I noticed the aircraft on TCAS about 6 miles ahead of us. During this turn we encountered wake turbulence that rolled the aircraft to approximately 40 degrees of bank. The other pilot who was flying disconnected the autopilot and had to apply near full aileron in the opposite direction for multiple seconds to regain control of the aircraft. He also increased power to try to stop the decreasing airspeed. At one point he increased the power to max for about 2-3 seconds. As I considered breaking off the approach our aircraft recovered and we decided to continue a dot above the glideslope to avoid other wake turbulence encounters. The rest of the approach and landing was uneventful and met stabilized approach criteria.I think the safest thing to do is increase the minimum separation between our aircraft type and heavy aircraft on final. While we can call the preceding aircraft and become responsible for separation; it is easy to lose sight of the aircraft as the approach continues because they can blend into the surrounding environment as they descend below the horizon. Also our attention is diverted configuring the aircraft for landing. This is obviously a vulnerable time for an aircraft as we are low; slow and configured.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-175 Captain reported encountering wake turbulence on approach to LAX in trail of a B757. Reporter suggested increasing the in-trail separation for a higher level of safety.

Narrative: While getting vectored onto the final approach course we were told by ATC we would be following a 757. We visually acquired the aircraft we were following as they were coming from the other direction to land ahead of us on our assigned runway. As we were turning to intercept the localizer I noticed the aircraft on TCAS about 6 miles ahead of us. During this turn we encountered wake turbulence that rolled the aircraft to approximately 40 degrees of bank. The other pilot who was flying disconnected the autopilot and had to apply near full aileron in the opposite direction for multiple seconds to regain control of the aircraft. He also increased power to try to stop the decreasing airspeed. At one point he increased the power to max for about 2-3 seconds. As I considered breaking off the approach our aircraft recovered and we decided to continue a dot above the glideslope to avoid other wake turbulence encounters. The rest of the approach and landing was uneventful and met stabilized approach criteria.I think the safest thing to do is increase the minimum separation between our aircraft type and Heavy aircraft on final. While we can call the preceding aircraft and become responsible for separation; it is easy to lose sight of the aircraft as the approach continues because they can blend into the surrounding environment as they descend below the horizon. Also our attention is diverted configuring the aircraft for landing. This is obviously a vulnerable time for an aircraft as we are low; slow and configured.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.