Narrative:

I chose this venue to report this issue because of the simplicity and my familiarity with the visual separation departures as a departure controller myself. On departure; very shortly after we become airborne; our aircraft rolled violently left and downwards with a series of extreme turbulent bumps. The event lasted about 15 seconds; maybe more; maybe less; but not much less. I fly fairly frequently and am usually the one calming passengers. However; there was no comfort to be had on this departure. We weren't sure whether it was an evasive maneuver or some other event. After the event I looked down out the window to the left and thought I might actually die that morning. I was staring at the ground that seemed to get closer instead of further. The pilot came on and said something silly to the effect of; 'you may have noticed something unusual on departure; sometimes with the visual departures there's a little bit of wake turbulence; etc etc...' I don't remember what else he said but I can't imagine a lay person would have understood what he entirely meant by visual departures or that we were too close to a preceding departure. I can only hope that the pilot reported the event. I have long believed that visual separation on departures was an unnecessary risk for a number of reasons; more so affecting us on departures; but now have had a very real and frightening taste of another reason. Recommendation; eliminate visual separation departures.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Controller passenger described experiencing a wake turbulence event on departure suggesting departure visual separation be eliminated for safety reasons.

Narrative: I chose this venue to report this issue because of the simplicity and my familiarity with the visual separation departures as a Departure Controller myself. On departure; very shortly after we become airborne; our aircraft rolled violently left and downwards with a series of extreme turbulent bumps. The event lasted about 15 seconds; maybe more; maybe less; but not much less. I fly fairly frequently and am usually the one calming passengers. However; there was no comfort to be had on this departure. We weren't sure whether it was an evasive maneuver or some other event. After the event I looked down out the window to the left and thought I might actually die that morning. I was staring at the ground that seemed to get closer instead of further. The Pilot came on and said something silly to the effect of; 'you may have noticed something unusual on departure; sometimes with the visual departures there's a little bit of wake turbulence; etc etc...' I don't remember what else he said but I can't imagine a lay person would have understood what he entirely meant by visual departures or that we were too close to a preceding departure. I can only hope that the Pilot reported the event. I have long believed that visual separation on departures was an unnecessary risk for a number of reasons; more so affecting us on departures; but now have had a very real and frightening taste of another reason. Recommendation; eliminate visual separation departures.

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.