EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Procedure
On approach to EWR; night VMC; following an MD-11. Issued a traffic advisory; we acknowledged the MD-11 in sight; were cleared for a visual approach for 22L behind the MD-11. At that time we were at 3000 feet and on a 170 heading toward TEB. I wanted to square the approach to maximize separation with the heavy; but also wanted the localizer and glideslope to capture. I disconnected the autopilot; selected 2500 feet; so that the glideslope would capture after the localizer had begun to capture. This is what ATC does when giving us a heading that would cause us to go above the GS before LOC capture. They give us 2500 feet to intercept the LOC. I started down to 2500 feet; then ATC instructed us to maintain 3000 feet until south of TEB. I reversed the descent; and began a climb back to 3000 feet. About that time; I also intercepted the LOC. Just south of TEB; we encountered the wake of the MD-11. It abruptly rolled our aircraft to the right between 30-40 degrees. I applied opposite aileron and rudder; and returned the aircraft to wings level. I also continued to climb to about a dot above the glideslope to reduce the chances of another wake encounter. I called the FA on the intercom to make sure she and the passengers were ok; and were told the cabin was ok. I continued the approach; reduced our airspeed to final approach speed; and continued slightly above the glideslope for the remainder of the approach. Landing was smooth and uneventful. At one point outside the FAF we were only about 2-3 miles in trail.Clearly; descending below the MD-11 flightpath was not desirable. The winds aloft were slightly right-to-left; but somewhat aligned with our flight paths and didn't move the wakes aside much. We were on our last leg of the trip; somewhat tired although not fatigued; and hadn't quite realized how close we were to the heavy.Suggestions: Clearly; not putting our aircraft in the same place as the preceding aircraft's wake turbulence would be a good idea. Just because ATC usually does something doesn't mean it's always appropriate.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
EMB-145 flight crew reported encountering wake turbulence on approach to EWR while 2-3 miles in trail of an MD-11.