A320 captain experienced severe turbulence; which he believed to be a wake vortex from a heavy jet.

Attributes
ACN	853263
Time
Date	200909
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Air Traffic Control Military 20 Air Traffic Control Radar 32 Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 2500
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

Narrative:

We leveled at FL370 in smooth air. The seat belt sign was off for about 7-9 min when we had a severe turbulence encounter lasting 3-4 sec. No one was up and no one reported any injuries. I feel that it was a wake turbulence event. Winds were such that any heavy aircraft that may have been in the area could have generated the wake and the winds carried it to the east and into our flight path. The aircraft was inspected upon arrival. Company reports to dispatch and maintenance were made. The flight continued with no further severe turbulence.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain experienced severe turbulence; which he believed to be a wake vortex from a heavy jet.

Narrative: We leveled at FL370 in smooth air. The seat belt sign was off for about 7-9 min when we had a severe turbulence encounter lasting 3-4 sec. No one was up and no one reported any injuries. I feel that it was a wake turbulence event. Winds were such that any heavy aircraft that may have been in the area could have generated the wake and the winds carried it to the east and into our flight path. The aircraft was inspected upon arrival. Company reports to Dispatch and Maintenance were made. The flight continued with no further severe turbulence.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.