ACR RECEIVES TCASII RA WITH NO ADVANCE TA. DSNDS BUT HAS INDICATION OF TFC BEING BELOW. STOPS DSCNT.

1991-11 · NASA ASRS report 192599

Date: 1991-11 · Aircraft: Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng · Phase: climb

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-altitude-excursion-from-assigned-altitude|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|other-unspecified

Synopsis

ACR RECEIVES TCASII RA WITH NO ADVANCE TA. DSNDS BUT HAS INDICATION OF TFC BEING BELOW. STOPS DSCNT.

Narrative

OFF RWY 13 TURNED TO HDG 175 UNTIL THE 2.5 DME THEN TURNED TO HDG 040. CLBED TO 5000. WE WERE THEN ADVISED TO TURN TO HDG 310; AND CLB TO 8000. OUR NEXT INSTRUCTIONS WERE TO CLB TO 15000 AND EXPEDITE THROUGH 10000. FO WAS HAND FLYING THE ACFT. HE INITIATED THE CLB; WHICH STABILIZED AT APPROX 4000 FPM. AS WE CLBED THROUGH 10000 WE RECEIVED AN RA. THE VSI WAS DISPLAYING A RED ARC THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE VERT RANGE; WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A GREEN 'FLY TO' REGION AT APPROX 2500 FPM DOWN. A SOLID RED SQUARE WAS DEPICTED AT 11 O'CLOCK INSIDE THE 2 MI CIRCLE. THERE WERE SHOWERS IN THE AREA SO WE HAD THE RADAR SELECTED TO THE WXR/TCASII MODE. I GLANCED AT THE RADAR SCREEN TO TRY AND GET AN OVERVIEW OF THE SITUATION; HOWEVER THE AMOUNT OF CLUTTER IN THIS MODE PREVENTED A QUICK ASSESSMENT. FO HAD TERMINATED THE CLB AND WAS ATTEMPTING TO PLACE THE VSI NEEDLE WITHIN THE GREEN ARC. THE TCASII AUDIO WAS STATING 'INCREASE DSCNT; INCREASE DSCNT'. I LEANED FORWARD IN ORDER TO READ THE ALT DISPLAYED NEXT TO THE TFC SYMBOL ON THE VSI. MY FIRST OBSERVATION WAS THAT OF AN ARROW POINTED DOWNWARD; AND - 07. THE ARROW DISAPPEARED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AND I TOLD THE FO THE TFC APPEARED TO BE BELOW US; AND THAT HE SHOULD STOP THE DSCNT. AT THIS TIME; THE RATE OF DSCNT WAS ALMOST 2500 FPM. AS HE SLOWED THE DSCNT; THE ALT DISPLAYED NEXT TO THE TFC SYMBOL WENT TO -05; -04; -03; ETC; UNTIL; AS WE LEVELED OFF; IT READ '0'. AT THIS TIME; THE TFC SYMBOL WAS OFF OUR L WING AT APPROX 1.5 MI. THE TFC SYMBOL THEN CHANGED TO YELLOW; AND THE AUDIO STATED 'CLR OF CONFLICT'. I CALLED ATC AND ADVISED THEM THAT WE HAD RECEIVED A TCASII ALERT AND HAD DSNDED IN ORDER TO COMPLY. WE THEN RESUMED OUR CLB TO 15000. CONCERNS: FO AND I HAD DISCUSSED TCASII ON THIS TRIP PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT. WE BOTH AGREED THAT DUE TO LACK OF TRAINING AND 'HANDS ON' EXPERIENCE WITH THE VARIOUS SCENARIOS; WE FELT AT A LOSS TO INTERPRET THE INFO AND ACT IN A TIMELY MANNER. IN ADDITION; DUE TO THE EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF NUISANCE ADVISORIES DURING THE TKOF AND LNDG PHASES; FLCS HAVE DEVELOPED A 'CRY WOLF' ATTITUDE TOWARDS TCASII; THUS RENDERING THE SYS INEFFECTIVE; AND DANGEROUS. CONCLUSION: AS A RESULT OF OUR EXPERIENCE WITH TCASII ON FLT; AND INFO I HAVE RECEIVED SUBSEQUENTLY; I FEEL STRONGLY THAT THE SYS IS NOT FULLY DEVELOPED AND IS PLACING PLTS AND PAX IN THE ROLE OF GUINEA PIGS. THEREFORE; I FEEL THAT THE SYS SHOULD BE TURNED OFF UNTIL SUCH TIME AS IT IS FULLY DEVELOPED.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.