Large twin engine air carrier flight crew reported a track deviation resulted when they were distrac...

Attributes
ACN	1390596
Time
Date	201609
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ATL.Airport
State Reference	GA
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 183
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 161
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

Narrative:

We had an LNAV departure out of atl in an older model aircraft; minimum takeoff spacing behind an A320. Shortly after gear retraction (about 200 AGL) we encountered moderate wake turbulence. First officer did a great job; but it took full aileron deflection which got my attention. About the time we got out of it; I thought; we were in it again. This time it also took a lot of control input the other way to counteract the wake. We had done a precautionary takeoff due to LLWS advisory so we were climbing rapidly; and about the time we were out of it; tower called; 'turn left to 070 immediately.' first officer started turning immediately and I selected 070 and heading sel. I looked at our LNAV track and we were about a needle width off course on the CDI. Tower switched us and did not have any other comment.there was no traffic behind us; but tower seemed compelled to use the absolute minimum legal separation for takeoffs. I could have taken my time getting on the runway and starting the roll to increase our separation. I should have made a call to tower as soon as I saw our turn was going to be delayed due to the wake turbulence recovery.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Large twin engine air carrier flight crew reported a track deviation resulted when they were distracted by a wake turbulence encounter shortly after takeoff from ATL.

Narrative: We had an LNAV departure out of ATL in an older model aircraft; minimum takeoff spacing behind an A320. Shortly after gear retraction (about 200 AGL) we encountered moderate wake turbulence. FO did a great job; but it took full aileron deflection which got my attention. About the time we got out of it; I thought; we were in it again. This time it also took a lot of control input the other way to counteract the wake. We had done a precautionary takeoff due to LLWS advisory so we were climbing rapidly; and about the time we were out of it; Tower called; 'turn left to 070 immediately.' FO started turning immediately and I selected 070 and HDG SEL. I looked at our LNAV track and we were about a needle width off course on the CDI. Tower switched us and did not have any other comment.There was no traffic behind us; but Tower seemed compelled to use the absolute minimum legal separation for takeoffs. I could have taken my time getting on the runway and starting the roll to increase our separation. I should have made a call to Tower as soon as I saw our turn was going to be delayed due to the wake turbulence recovery.

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.

Large twin engine air carrier flight crew reported a track deviation resulted when they were distracted by a wake turbulence encounter shortly after takeoff from atl.