A Q400 captain reported encountering a jolt of severe turbulence from a preceding B747 on departure ...

Narrative:

[We] took off behind a B747 [at] sea. [There] seemed to be plenty of separation; no concerns. [We] got 190 heading from departure and multiple step-up climbs. Upon leveling at 5;000 ft; [we] encountered one violent 'jolt' of severe turbulence. Suspected wake turbulence from B747 as there was no other significant turbulence or convective activity (no other reasonable explanations). Autopilot disengaged. First officer gained control of aircraft and leveled at 5;000 ft as instructed. First officer sustained no significant obvious injuries. Captain hit head on projector above head leading to a cut/bleeding; stiff neck; headache and 'foggy' feeling. Continued to [destination] without further incidents. Captain went to er to get checked out.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Q400 Captain reported encountering a jolt of severe turbulence from a preceding B747 on departure from SEA. The Captain reported that he banged his head and sustained a concussion from the event.

Narrative: [We] took off behind a B747 [at] SEA. [There] seemed to be plenty of separation; no concerns. [We] got 190 heading from Departure and multiple step-up climbs. Upon leveling at 5;000 FT; [we] encountered one violent 'jolt' of severe turbulence. Suspected wake turbulence from B747 as there was no other significant turbulence or convective activity (no other reasonable explanations). Autopilot disengaged. First Officer gained control of aircraft and leveled at 5;000 FT as instructed. First Officer sustained no significant obvious injuries. Captain hit head on projector above head leading to a cut/bleeding; stiff neck; headache and 'foggy' feeling. Continued to [destination] without further incidents. Captain went to ER to get checked out.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	993343
Time
Date	201202
Place
Locale Reference	SEA.Airport
State Reference	WA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Q400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

A Q400 captain reported encountering a jolt of severe turbulence from a preceding B747 on departure from sea. The captain reported that he banged his head and sustained a concussion from the event.