Narrative:

Aircraft Y was southeast bound at 15;000 ft. Air carrier X was a departure on the SID climbing to 14;000 ft. When air carrier X checked on; I called the traffic at his 11-12 o'clock and 4 miles; no joy. I called it again at 9 o'clock and 2 miles; traffic in sight. I told air carrier X to maintain visual and climbed him to FL230. He acknowledged and climbed. I failed to tell aircraft Y 'caution wake turbulence.'in this case; air carrier X passed 2-3 miles behind aircraft Y. Based on the effects of wake turbulence there is no way aircraft Y could have ever encountered it. I believe this procedure could be modified to only include situations when the heavy passed through the flight path or through a 180 degree area in front of the wings of the smaller aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZTL Controller described a probable wake turbulence loss of separation event when visual separation was applied; the reporter suggesting this involved procedure be modified.

Narrative: Aircraft Y was southeast bound at 15;000 FT. Air Carrier X was a departure on the SID climbing to 14;000 FT. When Air Carrier X checked on; I called the traffic at his 11-12 o'clock and 4 miles; no joy. I called it again at 9 o'clock and 2 miles; traffic in sight. I told Air Carrier X to maintain visual and climbed him to FL230. He acknowledged and climbed. I failed to tell aircraft Y 'caution wake turbulence.'In this case; Air Carrier X passed 2-3 miles behind aircraft Y. Based on the effects of wake turbulence there is no way aircraft Y could have ever encountered it. I believe this procedure could be modified to only include situations when the Heavy passed through the flight path or through a 180 degree area in front of the wings of the smaller aircraft.

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.