Patent ID: 8336827

Claim:
A method for creating a continuous protected space along a path of an airplane, in which said protected space a maximum speed Vtc induced in a vortex of radius Rtc of a wake of airplane is reduced through increasing the radius Rtc of the vortex, said method comprising: a prior step of identifying two or more changes of aerodynamic configurations for the airplane to trigger wake disturbances having the effect of increasing the radius Rtc of the vortex by a predefined value as a result of the wake disturbance in a given time; for each identified configuration for triggering such a wake disturbance, determining propagation characteristics along the vortex in an upstream direction, opposite to a direction of movement of the airplane along the airplane path, and in a downstream direction, corresponding to a direction of movement of the airplane along the airplane path, of the wake disturbances in sections of the vortex proximate a section of the vortex where said configuration change had been carried out; carrying out at least two of the aerodynamic configuration changes along the path of the airplane separated by a distance such that spaces, in which effects of the wake disturbances resulting from each of said at least two configuration changes are propagated along the vortex during a predefined length of time, are separated by a distance along the airplane path of almost zero or overlap along the airplane path so as to create a continuous protected space along the airplane path in which the maximum speed Vtc of the vortex is reduced because of the wake disturbance by at least a predefined value.