Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
ATC Issue All Types; Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Procedure
We encountered severe wake turbulence from a departing Airbus 320 preceding us on takeoff from 21R at DTW.  Winds at the time were virtually calm; and we received the clearance for takeoff before the Airbus was barely down the runway; which I believe is improper.  I waited a few moments for the Airbus to depart and give a little spacing between us.  I considered wake issues pre-takeoff roll; and made efforts to avoid by climbing above the preceding aircraft's flightpath that rotated way beyond us; but we were unable to out-climb it.  We encountered the rolling moment from the Airbus's wake very soon at about 500 feet AGL on climb out. I corrected with left aileron inputs that did little to overcome the sharp rolling moment to the right from the wake - it was strong.  At maximum; I had near full aileron deflection left to overcome the right rolling moment and that barely held zero roll at 30+ degrees; although we were at about 30-40 degrees right bank.  Because of our low alt (about 500-700 AGL) I could not reduce altitude to escape the wake; and we were at min climb speed; about 160-180 knots; I could not do much to escape the wake other than change heading as I could not climb above it; I could not descend below it; and could not power out of it; so we moved about 15 degrees left; to about a 185 heading. Immediately we exited the wake and contacted ATC to alert them to our encounter and our deviation of heading.  We continued on that heading at the direction of ATC for a while and was eventually cleared direct to our initial fix and to Center.  That was the end of the incident; which in my view was not minor; but necessary under the conditions at the time. The whole event lasted less than 5-7 seconds in my opinion.ATC won't change its policy of blasting off aircraft into the wakes of larger aircraft; so little can be written to change minds on that subject; but our experience is an example that wake from larger aircraft actually does affect smaller aircraft even if it is inconvenient for ATC's spacing protocols.  That could have been a very bad situation; especially at only 500 feet above the ground!
Our spacing and headings with Airbus ahead just didn't seem to work with the winds on the climb out; and placed us inside his wake.
CRJ-200 flight crew reported encountering wake turbulence from preceding A320 on takeoff from DTW that resulted in a 'sharp' roll at about 500 feet to 700 feet AGL. Reporter was critical of ATC protocols in managing departures.