Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40; Flight Crew Total 3850; Flight Crew Type 235
Deviation - Altitude Overshoot; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter
Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Environment - Non Weather Related
We were one of a very long sequence of departures off of Runway 25R at LAS. There were at least 10 departures cleared in front of us (mostly transport category jets; 737s; A320s). We were cleared to depart Runway 25R very soon after departure of an A320 from the same runway. We were informed that we needed to maintain visual separation; and given a wake turbulence advisory. Without delay; we departed 25R. After clearing 400 FT AGL; I asked the First Officer to move flaps to 7 degrees (leaving slats extended). I elected not to clean the aircraft any further; so I could maintain a steeper than usual climb profile and ensure remaining above the climbout profile of the A320 in front of us. I maintained visual contact; and also visually determined that I was above the climb profile of the aircraft in front of us. This was a bit more difficult than I had planned because the A320 seemed to be climbing at a fairly low airspeed.Despite my precautionary steep climb; as I leveled off at 7;000 FT MSL we hit some turbulence that I suspect was wake turbulence related. Aside from this turbulence; the initial and subsequent climbout was fairly smooth. I would characterize what we encountered as fairly mild; it required no extreme unusual maneuvers to counteract; though our level off required significant nose down pressure; as well as some roll input. We also overshot our level off by 100 or 200 hundred feet.While I was surprised by this encounter; I was prepared; as I was consciously attempting to avoid the climb profile of the aircraft in front of me. That said; I was still somewhat unnerved by this; as I worry the encounter could have been significantly worse had we been even slightly lower and hit more of the core of the wake. I think this could have been avoided by ATC using more than one runway for departures (even though its common to use both 19R and 25R for simultaneous departures at LAS; ATC was only using 25R that afternoon). Another contributing factor was my decision to depart as soon as I got the Takeoff clearance; versus asking Tower for an additional 60 or 90 seconds before departing. In retrospect; I was keenly aware of the 10 plus airplanes sitting on the taxiway behind us waiting to depart; and chose to use a steep climb to avoid wake turbulence; versus making everyone else wait a bit longer. I believe that was a mistake.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
A Falcon 900 encountered wake vortices from an A320 departing LAS.