An air carrier flight crew reported they took evasive action and responded to a TCAS/RA to avoid conflicting VFR traffic in their path.
Synopsis
An air carrier flight crew reported they took evasive action and responded to a TCAS/RA to avoid conflicting VFR traffic in their path.
Narrative
We were passing through 2000' on a straight out departure; and we got a TA for an aircraft at our 2 o clock position; high. Once we reached 2200'; we got traffic in sight who was around 2700'-3000' so I preemptively decided to descend back to 2000'. Once I initiated the descent; we received an RA saying to descend at a rate of 0-500 fpm. I kept the VSI in the green until the RA extinguished. It was at that moment where ATC reached out to us informing us of the traffic. We told them we complied with an RA.Cause: ATC was not paying attention to the traffic around the airport; and failed to communicate as well as consider alternative instructions.Suggestions: We had received traffic warnings from ATC on departure but only for 2 helicopters who were in close proximity of the airport. We were never informed of the airplane flying at 2700' to 3000' right at the departure end of the runway. I think that ATC could've done a much better job of monitoring the traffic around the airport which would've in turn allowed us to more efficiently avoid the traffic. If they were aware of traffic; they could've at least provided vectors; but I truly think that ATC didn't even notice the traffic until after we complied with the RA.
Second reporter narrative
TCAS RA. We departed ZZZ and around 2000 feet we received a TA and we started to look for the traffic. We saw the traffic and then received an RA. The first officer acted appropriately leveled off and the traffic went within about 500 feet of us. Departure control asked us if we got an alert and we told them we did. We responded to the RA.Cause: ATC did not alert us to the traffic.Suggestions: We did did everything by the book and the aircraft system worked as designed. Training and vigilance worked as designed .
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.