Here is the issue that I have with separation. You are five miles behind a heavy on final approach "maintain 180 until the marker, cleared for the visual". Okay you're putzin along at 180, he hits the marker, configures and slows to say 145 or so. Now you have 35 kts of closure on him and soon your five miles turns into less with him fully configured, lots of wake now. I have been cleared for the visual, so by rule, separation is now up to me. Okay, I will slow to maintain the 5 miles and this just kills the nice flow you guys have set up.

What would you guys like us to do in that situation, what would you expect us to do and is it really ever an issue. I fly a 757 and always land very very light. Sometimes our Vref speed is 115 knots. Boy does that put a bind in the system. Imagine a heavy behind me, and I'm at 115-120 knots. That won't be pretty for your separation.
S1

Speed and spacing behind the Heavy
 

This is a technique that has been taught by ATC trainers for many years: 1) Issue the traffic to follow, 2) You got him in sight? Good, follow that traffic, caution wake turbulence, maintain 170 knots to the marker, 3) NOW... it's all on your back, and we have a beautiful string of pearls down the final.

For years pilots have accepted this type of Clearance, and Controllers have continued to use this technique. Controllers set you up in the sequence, and then you make it work for us... with the added possibility of decreased separation behind the Heavy jet.

It's a Catch-22 scenario. You accepted the clearance. If you slow prior to the marker, are you going to get violated? If you continue with the clearance, you will certainly encounter the wake turbulence. If you refuse the clearance, will you be broken out of the line-up for resequencing?

The Training Department here at MEM Tower/TRACON has recently put an end to this type of operation. We have been instructed to never issue a Visual Approach Clearance with a speed assignment behind a Heavy that would cause you to have less than standard separation.

In other words, we must give you a fighting chance to maintain the required separation behind the Heavy. We can not assign an airspeed that would cause you to lose the required Heavy Jet separation. Period.

Some of the techniqures that you might hear at MEM:

Other FAA Approach Controls may handle this situation differently, and I'm sure that you would hear some different opinions from other Controllers.

What would *** I *** suggest?

MEM_ATC

[QUOTE=MEM_ATC]This is a technique that has been taught by ATC trainers for many years: 1) Issue the traffic to follow, 2) You got him in sight? Good, follow that traffic, caution wake turbulence, maintain 170 knots to the marker, 3) NOW... it's all on your back, and we have a beautiful string of pearls down the final.

Sounds really good, that you guys in MEM have your ******* together. Now if you could just get ATL and DFW to follow suit..............
S1

Late answer...
 

Well, I can't answer most of that, but I can say that, as a pilot who's flown a small (very small) plane regularly into airports mainly served by larges & heavies, I do several things. One is turning as soon as the gear is up, preferably towards the upwind side. If ATC hasn't given me a turn, I'm asking for it. Straight out is bad, unless the wind is strong. The other is on approach, if it's VMC then I'm offset to the upwind side of the localizer until I can fly above the glidepath and if it's IMC, I'll still fly a dot or so high on the ILS if I'm behind a heavy or 757. I've probably hit wake at least 4 times pretty good - nothing over 60 degree bank though. I have a lot of respect for what this can do to you.

This link discusses a study done in Europe about ways to reduce the required separation for wake:
http://www.atca.org/singlenews.asp?item_ID=3240&comm=0