A wake turbulence encounter behind a preceding airbus causes a B737 to temporarily abandon a special...

Narrative:

Tower was working hard to clear aircraft ahead of us and around us to ensure we would make our flow time. Another carrier airbus that was ahead of us had delayed their first takeoff clearance I think because of lack of takeoff data. Finally; they were ready for takeoff . Tower cleared us into position and hold and then for takeoff. I estimate that they were about 1000-1500 ft in the air when we started our takeoff roll. The captain was established on the 175 heading on the musel departure with the power in the cutback position when he turned on the autopilot. Also; LNAV was engaged and the aircraft centered in the flight director bars before autopilot engagement. Within seconds of engaging the autopilot; the aircraft started rolling moderately fast to the left. The captain immediately disconnected the autopilot; rolled the aircraft back to wings level; and simultaneously pushed up the thrust levers to regain control of the aircraft. Control was regained quickly; and with both engines operating normally; he reduced power back to the pre-determined limit. Maybe insist on more separation behind airbus and/or B757 aircraft at sna even if it causes us to miss a controlled departure time.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A wake turbulence encounter behind a preceding Airbus causes a B737 to temporarily abandon a special noise abatement departure procedure in order to recover.

Narrative: Tower was working hard to clear aircraft ahead of us and around us to ensure we would make our flow time. Another carrier Airbus that was ahead of us had delayed their first takeoff clearance I think because of lack of takeoff data. Finally; they were ready for takeoff . Tower cleared us into position and hold and then for takeoff. I estimate that they were about 1000-1500 ft in the air when we started our takeoff roll. The Captain was established on the 175 heading on the MUSEL departure with the power in the cutback position when he turned on the autopilot. Also; LNAV was engaged and the aircraft centered in the flight director bars before autopilot engagement. Within seconds of engaging the autopilot; the aircraft started rolling moderately fast to the left. The Captain immediately disconnected the autopilot; rolled the aircraft back to wings level; and simultaneously pushed up the thrust levers to regain control of the aircraft. Control was regained quickly; and with both engines operating normally; he reduced power back to the pre-determined limit. Maybe insist on more separation behind Airbus and/or B757 aircraft at SNA even if it causes us to miss a controlled departure time.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	820952
Time
Date	200901
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SNA.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	SID MUSEL
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 216 Flight Crew Type 2100
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

A wake turbulence encounter behind a preceding airbus causes a B737 to temporarily abandon a special noise abatement departure procedure in order to recover.