WDB ON ARR FROM OCEANIC FLT HAS TCASII RA TO DSND. DOES SO. CONTINUING ON APCH HAS SECOND TCASII ALERT TO PULLUP.

Date: 1992-05 · Aircraft: Widebody; Low Wing; 3 Turbojet Eng

Anomalies: conflict-nmac

Synopsis

WDB ON ARR FROM OCEANIC FLT HAS TCASII RA TO DSND. DOES SO. CONTINUING ON APCH HAS SECOND TCASII ALERT TO PULLUP.

Narrative

APCHING ON BT6 025 DEG RADIAL 29 DME FIX; FO WAS FLYING LEVEL AT 10000 FT; SLOWING TO 210 KTS AT PDX TRACON'S REQUEST. I NOTICED TFC APCHING ON TCASII DISPLAY BUT WAS NOT TOO CONCERNED. THE TFC WAS NEVER MENTIONED BY ATC; IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT WE WERE CLOSING WITH IT. THE TCASII SOUNDED 'TFC; TFC' BUT NEITHER ONE OF US COULD SEE IT. AT ABOUT THE TIME I SAW THE MERGING TFC; THE DISPLAY TURNED RED AND ANNUNCIATED 'DSND; DSND.' FO IMMEDIATELY CLOSED THE THROTTLES AND BEGAN A DSCNT. THE HIGH WING; LIGHT ACFT FLEW OVER US BY ABOUT 400 FT. THERE WERE ALSO A LINE CHK AIRMAN AND AN FAA ACDP INSPECTOR ON BOARD; BOTH OF THEM OBSERVED THE ENTIRE SCENARIO. FO RESPONSE WAS BOTH TIMELY AND APPROPRIATE. ONLY MINS LATER; WHILE ON FINAL APCH TO RWY 10R AT PDX; A SECOND TCASII ALERT CHANGED TO WARNING RESULTING IN A PULLUP; WHILE WE WERE DSNDING FROM THE FINAL APCH FIX INBOUND. THIS WAS CAUSED BY AN ACFT AT A SMALL ARPT TO THE IMMEDIATE NW FLYING A TFC PATTERN OVER THE RIVER. THE HORIZ FLT PATTERNS OVERLAPPED. WE WERE TOO CLOSE TO THE OTHER ACFT; AND THE VERT AVOIDANCE MANEUVER --- PARTICULARLY WHEN ONE HAS BEEN FLYING ALL NIGHT FROM THE ORIENT -- RESULTED IN SOMETHING LESS THAN WHAT IS CONSIDERED A STABLE APCH.

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