Bombardier Learjet Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 85; Flight Crew Total 8000; Flight Crew Type 1100
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Procedure; Environment - Non Weather Related
On a Part 91 owner flight flying [to] FXE we were descending on the FISEL7 arrival between JALOP and MOSIE with a speed restriction of 250 knots and a crossing restriction of 'MOSIE @ 8;000''. We encountered wake turbulence from the aircraft in front of us on the same arrival. Prior to and during the wake turbulence encounter we were not made aware of the heavy in front of us. We initially encountered the wake turbulence at approximately 9;800' MSL while going 250kts IAS. During the encounter; our aircraft rolled uncommanded to the left approximately 45 degrees. I immediately disabled to autopilot and rolled the aircraft back to a level attitude. The aircraft then encountered the wake again; rolling to the right this time and only about 20-25 degrees uncommanded. I again rolled the aircraft level and decreased our descent rate. Almost immediately after this happened the Miami Center Controller called us and told us 'caution; wake turbulence' for a heavy [Aircraft Y] about 10 miles ahead of us on the arrival. I immediately responded and told the controller we had just encountered the heavy's wake and I requested an offset to the left or right to avoid the wake. Eventually the controller gave us 10 degrees left; deleted the crossing restriction at MOSIE and told us to simply descend and maintain 8;000'. At this point no further wake turbulence was encountered and the rest of the flight was uneventful. In review directly after the flight was completed it appears that; in part because of the traffic saturation going into the South Florida area; specifically on the FISEL7; combined with traffic procedures associated with the TFR over and surrounding Mar-a-Lago; this creates a situation where aircraft can run into a wake. It is also clear that the controller felt obligated to inform us about the heavy jet in front of us but he was late in doing so. I also would have preferred to have offset to the right instead of the left because the wind vector aloft at the moment of the encounter was from the southwest but because of the proximity to the TFR; we were asked (and I accepted) a turn to the left. A turn to the right would have been 'upwind' and I was hoping that if we were still close to the heavy's wake upwind would go away from the wake. Regardless; this is irrelevant as we did not encounter the wake after the two uncommanded rolls I described earlier in this report.
Learjet Captain reported encountering wake turbulence from a Large Transport while descending into FXE.