A couple guys on the VATSIM forums found this little nugget, so I thought I'd post it here as well.
The FAA has released a notice addressing the reclassification of the "heavy" category of aircraft to become aligned with the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) "heavy" classification.
To be considered heavy under the new policy, aircraft must have a maximum certificated takeoff weight (MTOW) of at least 300,000 lbs. The old rule to be classified as a heavy was an MTOW of 250,000 lbs.
Boeing 757s, both -200 and -300 models, are therefore all classified under the "large" category, and "heavy" will no longer be part of any 757 aircraft callsigns.
So as far as wake turbulence separation goes, the B757 series aircraft (B752, B752 reconfigured to exceed the 255,000lbs MTOW, and B753) are all now classified as Large aircraft, and as such, If the B757 is following a large aircraft, it requires 3 miles separation. If a large aircraft is following a B757, instead of it requiring different separation standards (as it did between B757s and heavy B757s), they are now all classified as one class, requiring 4 miles separation. All other separation standards for the B757 remain the same.
Source:
http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Notice/N7110.525.pdf Enjoy.
BL.
