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I've heard pilots talking about how the new 737s produce much more wake turbulence then the model historically. They described it as similar to the 757, based on anecdotal experience. Have there been any studies of this, or is there a quantifiable difference between 737 models?

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According to the Wake Turbulence Re-categorisation, the older 737's are Lower Medium, while the 737NG is Upper Medium.

High lift (weight) and low approach speed increase the wake turbulence. The newer 737's are heavier, while their approach speeds are not much faster than the older models.

The 757's are Lower Heavy. See: What is the cause of unusually strong wake turbulence from the 757?

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    $\begingroup$ Do you know a cause for this? Higher weights? Higher wing loading? $\endgroup$
    – ROIMaison
    Feb 9, 2018 at 12:05
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for the reference. I know what causes the wake turbulence, but I was just wondering what caused the wake turbulence difference in this case. Don't know the details of the different Boeing variants that well. $\endgroup$
    – ROIMaison
    Feb 9, 2018 at 12:48
  • $\begingroup$ Might be talking about the new MAX...? $\endgroup$
    – digitgopher
    Feb 10, 2018 at 5:59
  • $\begingroup$ @digitgopher - maybe, but there aren't many of those around. $\endgroup$
    – user14897
    Feb 10, 2018 at 6:44

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