A B717 captain reported encountering wake turbulence following a B757 on approach at atl.

Attributes
ACN	963360
Time
Date	201108
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	A80.TRACON
State Reference	GA
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B717 (Formerly MD-95)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

Narrative:

During the approach to downwind for atl runway 8L we were assigned 220 KTS instead of the usual 210 KTS. We were then descended to 5;000 ft. While level at 5;000 ft we encountered wake turbulence produced by a 757 which we were not told we were following. I reacted by climbing 150 ft to get out of the wake turbulence and immediately returned to 5;000 ft. We told ATC of the encounter and they did not say anything about it. We landed uneventfully.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B717 Captain reported encountering wake turbulence following a B757 on approach at ATL.

Narrative: During the approach to downwind for ATL Runway 8L we were assigned 220 KTS instead of the usual 210 KTS. We were then descended to 5;000 FT. While level at 5;000 FT we encountered wake turbulence produced by a 757 which we were not told we were following. I reacted by climbing 150 FT to get out of the wake turbulence and immediately returned to 5;000 FT. We told ATC of the encounter and they did not say anything about it. We landed uneventfully.

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.