Narrative:

Atlanta tower cleared two boeing 757s for takeoff before we took runway 26L. The second boeing 757 was just lifting off when the controller cleared us for takeoff. I definitely had reservations about accepting the clearance under these conditions; but I remembered that the FAA had these new recat rules for wake turbulence and ATC [is] now allowed to disregard B757's wake under certain conditions. I also remember ATC clearing me for takeoff close in-trail behind a B757 in philadelphia recently and the takeoff occurred without incident (the B757 departed runway heading and we turned to a heading of 230). Remembering these two things; I accepted the takeoff clearance and we rolled down the runway. Shortly after liftoff; we encountered serious wake turbulence with 30+ degree roll upsets to the left and to the right. It was quite violent and I made a report to ATC that we encountered 'serious wake turbulence.'the cause of this was my acceptance of an unsafe takeoff clearance. Additionally; the new recat rules are not safe and should be reevaluated. I am not 100% sure what departure the B757 was on; but each atl departure flies the same route initially; there is no diverging course until the middle marker. This is a serious problem when you roll two B757s in succession and then put a [smaller twin engine jet] behind them with standard same-runway-separation. I suggest the FAA reevaluate recat; which was a change to the 7110.65; and perhaps go back to the same wake turbulence rules they had before.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported a 'quite violent' wake turbulence encounter on takeoff from ATL in trail of two B757 aircraft.

Narrative: Atlanta Tower cleared two Boeing 757s for takeoff before we took runway 26L. The second Boeing 757 was just lifting off when the Controller cleared us for takeoff. I definitely had reservations about accepting the clearance under these conditions; but I remembered that the FAA had these new RECAT rules for wake turbulence and ATC [is] now allowed to disregard B757's wake under certain conditions. I also remember ATC clearing me for takeoff close in-trail behind a B757 in Philadelphia recently and the takeoff occurred without incident (the B757 departed runway heading and we turned to a heading of 230). Remembering these two things; I accepted the takeoff clearance and we rolled down the runway. Shortly after liftoff; we encountered serious wake turbulence with 30+ degree roll upsets to the left and to the right. It was quite violent and I made a report to ATC that we encountered 'serious wake turbulence.'The cause of this was my acceptance of an unsafe takeoff clearance. Additionally; the new RECAT rules are not safe and should be reevaluated. I am not 100% sure what departure the B757 was on; but each ATL departure flies the same route initially; there is no diverging course until the middle marker. This is a serious problem when you roll two B757s in succession and then put a [smaller twin engine jet] behind them with standard same-runway-separation. I suggest the FAA reevaluate RECAT; which was a change to the 7110.65; and perhaps go back to the same wake turbulence rules they had before.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.