Narrative:

A B767 reported significant wake turbulence event. He inquired about an A380 because he was the nearest aircraft to the B767's altitude. The B767 was on a crossing course approximately 18 NM miles behind the A380. The A380 was 1;000 ft above the B767. The B767 was crossing behind the A380 course at a 12 degree convergence. The B767 did not appear to have passed through the center-line of the A380's flight path when he reported the wake turbulence. The pilot of the B767 asked if we should have advised him of the potential of wake turbulence in this situation; and he asked how ATC would feel if he had requested to deviate from his altitude by plus or minus 500 ft. There was more to the discussion on the frequency but I had to answer a land line and did not hear the full exchange between the B767 and the radar controller. I can not think of any reasonable change to prevent this from happening. In this high altitude sector we routinely have aircraft much closer than 18 NM in trail; and separated by only 1;000 ft. In fact it's not uncommon to have three or four aircraft separated by 1;000 ft and all within 5 NM of one another; on the precise same track due to the use of GPS navigation. I reported this event since there has been concern about the potential for significant wake turbulence behind the airbus A380.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZBW Controller was advised of a significant wake turbulence encounter by a B767 passing below and behind an A380 aircraft.

Narrative: A B767 reported significant wake turbulence event. He inquired about an A380 because he was the nearest aircraft to the B767's altitude. The B767 was on a crossing course approximately 18 NM miles behind the A380. The A380 was 1;000 FT above the B767. The B767 was crossing behind the A380 course at a 12 degree convergence. The B767 did not appear to have passed through the center-line of the A380's flight path when he reported the wake turbulence. The pilot of the B767 asked if we should have advised him of the potential of wake turbulence in this situation; and he asked how ATC would feel if he had requested to deviate from his altitude by plus or minus 500 FT. There was more to the discussion on the frequency but I had to answer a land line and did not hear the full exchange between the B767 and the RADAR Controller. I can not think of any reasonable change to prevent this from happening. In this high altitude sector we routinely have aircraft much closer than 18 NM in trail; and separated by only 1;000 FT. In fact it's not uncommon to have three or four aircraft separated by 1;000 FT and all within 5 NM of one another; on the precise same track due to the use of GPS navigation. I reported this event since there has been concern about the potential for significant wake turbulence behind the Airbus A380.

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.