Definition
Circular patterns of air created by the movement of an airfoil through the air when generating lift. As an aircraft's wings produce lift, higher-pressure air beneath the wing spills around the wingtips into the lower-pressure area above, forming spiraling masses of rotating air that trail behind each wingtip. These wingtip vortices are the principal component of wake turbulence and can be hazardous to aircraft following or crossing the flight path of a larger aircraft.
Plain English
Spinning tubes of air that come off the tips of a wing whenever an aircraft is making lift. They trail behind the aircraft and can roll a smaller plane that flies into them.
Context Anchor
Seen in wake turbulence discussions, takeoff and landing spacing, and pilot cautions about flying behind another aircraft.
Derivation
From the Latin 'vortex,' meaning 'whirlpool' or 'eddy.' The same root gives us 'vortex' in everyday speech for any spinning fluid. Picturing water swirling down a drain captures the basic shape of what the wingtip leaves behind in the air.
Why Pilots Care
Vortices create wake turbulence that can roll or pitch a following aircraft, with the greatest risk to smaller planes behind larger ones.
Grounding Statement
After a wing passes through the air, some of the air behind it can keep rolling and spinning for a short time.
Intuition Check
Do not think of vortices only as visible funnel clouds or tornado shapes. Aircraft vortices are usually invisible, but they can still be strong enough to affect control of another airplane.
Example Sentence 1
Tower advised the Cessna to extend the downwind to allow the vortices from the departing 737 to dissipate before landing.
Example Sentence 2
During landing, the strongest vortices form when the aircraft is slow and heavy with flaps retracted.