What are the ICAO wake turbulence categories?

ICAO defines four categories by Maximum Take-Off Weight: Light up to 7,000 kg, Medium from 7,000 to 136,000 kg, Heavy at 136,000 kg or more, and Super for the very largest designated aircraft such as the Airbus A380. Heavier aircraft shed stronger wingtip vortices.

Why does wake turbulence category matter?

It sets the minimum separation a following aircraft must keep behind a leading one. A lighter aircraft trailing a heavier one needs more spacing because it is most vulnerable to the leader's vortices, which can roll or pitch it dangerously near the ground.

Which aircraft are classed as Super?

Only the Airbus A380-800 and the Antonov An-225 Mriya are in the Super category. The word Super is spoken in the radio callsign so controllers and other pilots apply the largest wake separation behind them.

Is the category based on actual take-off weight?

No. The wake category uses the aircraft's certified Maximum Take-Off Weight, not the weight on a given flight. This keeps a type's category fixed regardless of how much fuel or payload it carries on any particular departure.

What is the Aircraft Wake Turbulence Category Reference?

Reference for ICAO aircraft wake turbulence categories with Maximum Take-Off Weight ranges and example aircraft, plus a lookup that classifies any aircraft as Light, Medium, Heavy, or Super from its MTOW in kilograms. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Aircraft Wake Turbulence Category Reference

Name: Aircraft Wake Turbulence Category Reference
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Wake turbulence categories at a glance

Every aircraft trails a pair of counter-rotating vortices from its wingtips, and the heavier the aircraft the stronger those vortices are. ICAO groups aircraft into wake turbulence categories by Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) so air traffic control can apply the right separation behind each one. This reference lists the four categories — Light, Medium, Heavy, and Super — with their weight bands and example aircraft, and lets you classify any aircraft from its MTOW.

How it works

The category is decided purely by certified MTOW. The bands are:

Light   : MTOW <= 7,000 kg
Medium  : 7,000 kg < MTOW < 136,000 kg
Heavy   : MTOW >= 136,000 kg
Super   : designated (A380-800, An-225)

Enter a weight in kilograms and the tool walks these bands and returns the matching code. Because the A380’s MTOW of roughly 575,000 kg sits well above any other type, a weight in that range maps to the Super band; in practice Super is assigned by type designation rather than computed weight.

Why wake turbulence separation exists

Wake vortices are invisible and persist for minutes after a heavy aircraft passes. They rotate inward at the centreline and can roll a lighter aircraft beyond its control limits, most dangerously during approach and departure when the following aircraft is low and slow. The wing-tip to wing-tip roll moment imposed by a Super-category vortex on a Light-category aircraft can exceed the lighter aircraft’s full aileron authority, which is why controllers apply the largest separation behind Super types and why the radio callsign warns every crew on frequency.

Category quick-reference

Category	Code	MTOW	Typical examples
Light	L	up to 7,000 kg	Cessna 172, Diamond DA40, Piper PA-28
Medium	M	7,001–136,000 kg	Boeing 737, Airbus A320, Embraer E190
Heavy	H	136,001 kg and above	Boeing 777, 747, Airbus A330
Super	J	Designated	Airbus A380-800, Antonov An-225

Tips and notes

The single-letter codes (L, M, H, J) appear in field 9 of an ICAO flight plan. The words Heavy and Super are appended to a flightcrew’s radio callsign on first contact with each ATC unit — for example “Speedbird 9 Heavy” — so everyone on frequency knows to expect strong wake behind that aircraft.

Separation is greatest when a Light follows a Super and smallest when two aircraft share the same category. Controllers also consider wind: a crosswind component can carry vortices laterally off the runway centreline, and a headwind helps dissipate them faster. At airports using the FAA RECAT scheme, the four ICAO bands are refined into additional sub-categories (A through F or I) to allow tighter but still safe separation than the classic rules permit.

For flight planning and ATC purposes, remember that category is fixed to the certified MTOW of the aircraft type — it does not change if the aircraft departs light on a short sector.