<b>Wake Vortex Study at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallops_Flight_Facility" class="extiw" title="en:Wallops Flight Facility">Wallops Island</a></b><br>
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aerodynamics" class="extiw" title="en:aerodynamics">air flow</a> from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/airfoil" class="extiw" title="en:airfoil">wing</a> of this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/crop_duster" class="extiw" title="en:crop duster">agricultural plane</a> is made visible by a technique that uses colored smoke rising from the ground. The swirl at the wingtip traces the aircraft's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wake_turbulence" class="extiw" title="en:wake turbulence">wake vortex</a>, which exerts a powerful influence on the flow field behind the plane. Because of wake vortex, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration" class="extiw" title="en:Federal Aviation Administration">Federal Aviation Administration</a> (FAA) requires aircraft to maintain set distances behind each other when they land. A joint <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA" class="extiw" title="en:NASA">NASA</a>-FAA program aimed at boosting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/airport" class="extiw" title="en:airport">airport</a> capacity, however, is aimed at determining conditions under which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/airplane" class="extiw" title="en:airplane">planes</a> may fly closer together. NASA researchers are studying wake vortex with a variety of tools, from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/supercomputer" class="extiw" title="en:supercomputer">supercomputers</a>, to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wind_tunnel" class="extiw" title="en:wind tunnel">wind tunnels</a>, to actual flight tests in research aircraft. Their goal is to fully understand the phenomenon, then use that knowledge to create an automated system that could predict changing wake vortex conditions at airports. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviator" class="extiw" title="en:Aviator">Pilots</a> already know, for example, that they have to worry less about wake vortex in rough weather because windy conditions cause them to dissipate more rapidly.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lisar.larc.nasa.gov/">NASA Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC)</a>, Edited by <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fir0002" title="User:Fir0002">Fir0002</a>
1990-05-04
This image or video was catalogued by Langley Research Center of the United States <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA" class="extiw" title="w:NASA">National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a> (NASA) under <b>Photo ID:</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://images.nasa.gov/search?q=EL-1996-00130&amp;page=1&amp;media=image,video,audio&amp;yearStart=1920&amp;yearEnd=2023">EL-1996-00130</a> and <b>Alternate ID:</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://images.nasa.gov/search?q=L90-5919&amp;page=1&amp;media=image,video,audio&amp;yearStart=1920&amp;yearEnd=2023">L90-5919</a>.