Film thickness measurements have been performed in a vertical air/water annular flow in a pipe of 0.05 m diameter. A sensor has been built which allows to measure the film thickness evolution in time at 320 positions, such that the interface of the vertical annular flow can be reconstructed. The large-scale structures moving on the interface are described statistically, with a special attention to the disturbance waves. Probability density functions and mean statistics are given for the height, length, velocity, frequency and spatial distribution of the disturbance waves. In particular, it is shown that the disturbance waves are three-dimensional structures with large height fluctuations in the circumferential and axial direction, giving a meandering path between the maximum height around the circumference. It is also shown that the disturbance waves can flow with a slight inclination with respect to the axial direction. Finally, the disturbance waves are shown to be located randomly in space, within a Gamma distribution whose order only depends on the liquid superficial velocity. Due to the nature of the Gamma distribution, it could indicate that the spatial distribution of the disturbance waves results from a cascade of coalescence processes between the original disturbance waves on the film. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.