Pshifrin From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 249 posts, RR: 0 Posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 1706 times:
this weekend i flew HPN-ORD-SFO When we flew out of ORD, the plane in front of us on the runway was just barely at rotation when we throttled up for takeoff. Is this normal? I thought that takeoff separation was about 2 minutes, especially after the AA587 disaster.
fyi, aircraft in front of us was an MD-80, our ship was an AA 738.
LY744 From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 5536 posts, RR: 11 Reply 1, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 1676 times:
Hi Pshifrin!
How could you see the a/c in front of you was rotating? Were you in the jumpseat or something?
I'm no expert, but since both a/c are roughly the same size, separation may not be such a big issue?
Critter_592 From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 279 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 1658 times:
I know controllers sometimes use aniticpated separation, meaning they feel that by the time the second a/c rotates they will have obtained their minimum separation. I think it is 2 minutes for heavies, and just 5 miles for everyone else.
Pshifrin From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 249 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 1658 times:
I wish i was in the jumpseat! No, I was sitting at the window and our plane was perpendicular to the runway, we turned very quickly and powered up immediately, therefore, i'm assuming the other plane had just rotated, it was just a few seconds difference.
Rick767 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2000, 2662 posts, RR: 52 Reply 4, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 1637 times:
This is generally no problem provided the two aircraft are of the same wake turbulence category (or the preceding aircraft is of a lower category).
In the UK we sometimes delay for 2 minutes even in this instance but only if the aircraft ahead is on the same SID (Departure) as us.
Otherwise it's 2 minutes for a Light / Medium following a Heavy (or 3 minutes if the following a/c is departing from a runway intersection - i.e. not full-length).
I used to love the smell of Jet-A in the morning...
Jmacias34 From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 379 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (11 years 3 months 2 weeks ago) and read 1600 times:
Probably my favorite aviation memory happened last summer at SFO. I was aboard a United 733 bound for ONT, we lined up on 1L while an Alaska MD-80 had started its run on 1R, we were roughly about 1000ft behind it when it rotated - then we rotated and at about 1000agl we made a slight left turn about 10 degrees. Simultaneous approaches/departures are quite a sight.
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From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 249 posts, 
From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 5536 posts, 
Were you in the jumpseat or something?
From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2000, 2662 posts, 
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