An erj captain reported encountering a powerful wake from the preceding airbus on arrival at sdf.

Attributes
ACN	956617
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	SDF.TRACON
State Reference	KY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 145 ER&LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

Narrative:

On our arrival into sdf we were vectored behind a heavy airbus at the same altitude; and approximately 9 miles in trail. Winds aloft at the time were a direct 12 knot headwind. We were level at 10;000 ft when our aircraft violently rolled left and right and the autopilot failed. I took the yoke and began a climb to 10;400 ft and made a 15 degree turn to the right to get the aircraft out of the wake from the aircraft ahead. We advised approach control and returned to our assigned altitude and heading and re-engaged the autopilot. I called the flight attendant to make sure everyone was okay and made a quick announcement to calm the passengers.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ Captain reported encountering a powerful wake from the preceding Airbus on arrival at SDF.

Narrative: On our arrival into SDF we were vectored behind a heavy Airbus at the same altitude; and approximately 9 miles in trail. Winds aloft at the time were a direct 12 knot headwind. We were level at 10;000 FT when our aircraft violently rolled left and right and the autopilot failed. I took the yoke and began a climb to 10;400 FT and made a 15 degree turn to the right to get the aircraft out of the wake from the aircraft ahead. We advised Approach Control and returned to our assigned altitude and heading and re-engaged the autopilot. I called the Flight Attendant to make sure everyone was okay and made a quick announcement to calm the passengers.

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.