A CE560 pilot reported a high workload situation when his FMS failed departing las at the same time ...

Narrative:

We were cleared to depart las via the STAAV4 departure from runway 25R. VMC conditions existed at the time and the winds were light and variable. We were cleared into position behind an rj who had just departed. I was the PIC in the right seat with the inexperienced left seat pilot making the takeoff. I briefed the flying pilot to rotate the aircraft before the point at which the rj lifted off so as to avoid wake turbulence. On takeoff and well airborne we experienced wake turbulence from the preceding aircraft followed by complete loss of the FMS and the preloaded SID leaving us with no navigational data at a low altitude and behind an aircraft whose wake we were still flying through. ATC called us asking if we had the preceding rj in sight to which I replied 'negative' and they began asking us for our altitude and to keep the preceding aircraft in sight which we were unable to do.during all of this; I was frantically trying to reload the FMS with the STAAV4 SID; but was unsuccessful in doing so. I was also tasked with monitoring the flying pilot and trying to maintain aircraft control while also trying to comply with the waypoints/altitudes of the SID which were lost when the FMS failed suddenly as we departed. I was pretty well over-tasked during this critical phase of flight and we deviated from the SID which required ATC to give us radar vectors until we were able to proceed direct to tralr. I was finally able to re-boot the FMS and get the waypoints subsequent to staav reloaded and verified. From there; the FMS functioned normally and the flight proceeded without further incident. The sudden loss of the FMS couldn't have happened at a worse time as we were in a high density environment; we were in the wake of an rj which we lost sight of; and we were maneuvering to avoid the high terrain west of the airport. I really had my hands full while trying to respond to ATC's calls and keep an eye on the flying pilot so as to keep the aircraft under control. It was 'task saturation' in its purest form!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CE560 pilot reported a high workload situation when his FMS failed departing LAS at the same time he was dealing with wake turbulence from a preceding RJ.

Narrative: We were cleared to depart LAS via the STAAV4 departure from Runway 25R. VMC conditions existed at the time and the winds were light and variable. We were cleared into position behind an RJ who had just departed. I was the PIC in the right seat with the inexperienced left seat pilot making the takeoff. I briefed the flying pilot to rotate the aircraft before the point at which the RJ lifted off so as to avoid wake turbulence. On takeoff and well airborne we experienced wake turbulence from the preceding aircraft followed by complete loss of the FMS and the preloaded SID leaving us with no navigational data at a low altitude and behind an aircraft whose wake we were still flying through. ATC called us asking if we had the preceding RJ in sight to which I replied 'negative' and they began asking us for our altitude and to keep the preceding aircraft in sight which we were unable to do.During all of this; I was frantically trying to reload the FMS with the STAAV4 SID; but was unsuccessful in doing so. I was also tasked with monitoring the flying pilot and trying to maintain aircraft control while also trying to comply with the waypoints/altitudes of the SID which were lost when the FMS failed suddenly as we departed. I was pretty well over-tasked during this critical phase of flight and we deviated from the SID which required ATC to give us radar vectors until we were able to proceed direct to TRALR. I was finally able to re-boot the FMS and get the waypoints subsequent to STAAV reloaded and verified. From there; the FMS functioned normally and the flight proceeded without further incident. The sudden loss of the FMS couldn't have happened at a worse time as we were in a high density environment; we were in the wake of an RJ which we lost sight of; and we were maneuvering to avoid the high terrain west of the airport. I really had my hands full while trying to respond to ATC's calls and keep an eye on the flying pilot so as to keep the aircraft under control. It was 'task saturation' in its purest form!

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.

Attributes
ACN	981926
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	LAS.Airport
State Reference	NV
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Citation V/Ultra/Encore (C560)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	SID STAAV
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Embraer Jet Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 29000 Flight Crew Type 6000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

A CE560 pilot reported a high workload situation when his FMS failed departing las at the same time he was dealing with wake turbulence from a preceding rj.