Narrative:

While departing dal on lndre 4 forck; regional departure was giving us vectors for spacing with other departing traffic from dfw. We were given direct hanuh and as filed normal speed; about 300 knots/.78M. After passing hanuh; we were unknowingly in trail of a 757-200 by about 18 miles and 2200 feet lower according to TCAS display. As we climbed; the aircraft began to buffet and roll right about three to five degrees then to the left. I began guarding the controls as the autopilot was applying what appeared to be about ten degrees of control deflection; more than I have seen in normal operations. As the buffeting increased; I was placing my hands on the controls to turn off the autopilot when it went into roll mode; not sure; if I nudged it or it just had exceeded its limits. Regardless; I began controlling yaw manually and turned off the autopilot; climbed at a steeper rate to get above the wake. On initial autopilot disconnect the aircraft did a bit of a dutch roll as it was influenced by the wake. It smoothed out and we engaged the autopilot. Winds at the time were an almost direct tailwind at 270/20 knots. I asked ATC what we were following and that is when they mentioned the 757. They did offer to offset us or whatever we needed. I declined any vectors as I thought it was a onetime event and we were above it. However; about five to ten minutes later we began to get into the wake again and the buffeting and slight rolling. I took immediate action and began climbing at a higher rate; which got us above the wake again. The 757 was now about 20 miles ahead on our TCAS and still 2200 feet above us as we climbed in the high FL300's. No further roll or wake events were encountered. The flight attendants did mention to us that they were up doing cabin service and were jostled around a bit and some passengers had been spooked a bit. No injuries were reported.it would have been good to know we were following a 757. We usually think of wake turbulence in the terminal area but this was clearly outside of that. Also at 18 miles; we aren't thinking of it either. In reality at that speed; 18 miles is only two to three minutes behind. I also think the direct tailwind may have been influencing how the wake behaved and remained on the track we were flying. Other than more spacing or slight offset; it was a case of the two aircraft were performing about the same on the same track.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported encountering wake turbulence 18 miles in trail of a B757-200 climbing out of the DFW area.

Narrative: While departing DAL on LNDRE 4 FORCK; Regional Departure was giving us vectors for spacing with other departing traffic from DFW. We were given direct HANUH and as filed normal speed; about 300 knots/.78M. After passing HANUH; we were unknowingly in trail of a 757-200 by about 18 miles and 2200 feet lower according to TCAS display. As we climbed; the aircraft began to buffet and roll right about three to five degrees then to the left. I began guarding the controls as the autopilot was applying what appeared to be about ten degrees of control deflection; more than I have seen in normal operations. As the buffeting increased; I was placing my hands on the controls to turn off the autopilot when it went into roll mode; not sure; if I nudged it or it just had exceeded its limits. Regardless; I began controlling yaw manually and turned off the autopilot; climbed at a steeper rate to get above the wake. On initial Autopilot disconnect the aircraft did a bit of a Dutch roll as it was influenced by the wake. It smoothed out and we engaged the autopilot. Winds at the time were an almost direct tailwind at 270/20 knots. I asked ATC what we were following and that is when they mentioned the 757. They did offer to offset us or whatever we needed. I declined any vectors as I thought it was a onetime event and we were above it. However; about five to ten minutes later we began to get into the wake again and the buffeting and slight rolling. I took immediate action and began climbing at a higher rate; which got us above the wake again. The 757 was now about 20 miles ahead on our TCAS and still 2200 feet above us as we climbed in the high FL300's. No further roll or wake events were encountered. The Flight Attendants did mention to us that they were up doing cabin service and were jostled around a bit and some passengers had been spooked a bit. No injuries were reported.It would have been good to know we were following a 757. We usually think of wake turbulence in the terminal area but this was clearly outside of that. Also at 18 miles; we aren't thinking of it either. In reality at that speed; 18 miles is only two to three minutes behind. I also think the direct tailwind may have been influencing how the wake behaved and remained on the track we were flying. Other than more spacing or slight offset; it was a case of the two aircraft were performing about the same on the same track.

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.