BAe 125 Series 800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
Environment - Non Weather Related; Procedure
Wake turbulence encounter: The weather was VMC with smooth atmospheric conditions. We had been assigned a speed of 300 KIAS in the climb. The autopilot was engaged. The seatbelt sign was off. Climbing through approximately FL200 the plane very suddenly started shaking followed by a severe jolt and a 45 degree bank to the right. The pilot flying in the right seat disengaged the autopilot and returned the plane to level flight and turned back on course. He continued to hand fly the plane for the next minute to ensure it was once again smooth and safe to reengage the autopilot. The whole turbulence encounter lasted only about 2 seconds and another 3 seconds to assess the situation and regain manual control. There were no meteorological reasons for turbulence and no PIREPS of turbulence had been reported.We suspected wake turbulence and a look at the TCAS confirmed that was another aircraft about 12 NM ahead of us and 2;000 FT above us going the same direction at the same speed and climb rate; thus maintaining the same relative position to our aircraft. ATC had never told us about the other aircraft; we just kind of figured it out by listening to radio communications and observing our TCAS display. I queried ATC if we were trailing a heavy aircraft because we had just encountered what appeared to be a wake turbulence upset. ATC confirmed that we were indeed '10 miles in trail of a heavy' and offered a vector off course. I forgot to ask what type of aircraft it was and never found out but there were several European carriers headed home that direction at that time of the day. As pilots we need to be alert to surrounding aircraft; even in Class A airspace. While the ATC provided separation may be legal it may not always be safe. Pilots and ATC alike need to realize that separation is more a matter of time than distance. Because we had been assigned a very high rate of airspeed; the time to catch up to the preceding aircraft's wake was around 1.5 minutes rather than the 2+ minutes it would have been if we had been climbing at our normal climb speed...Less time for the wake turbulence to dissipate. Higher speeds require greater separation distance.
A BAE-125-850XP Captain reported encountering wake vortex during climb from an aircraft about 10 miles ahead.