CAPT OF ACR MLG ACFT EXPERIENCED A FALSE TCASII ALERT AND WARNING IN A SHORT TIME RESULTING IN BRIEF EMOTIONAL TRAUMA TO THE PLT.

1992-12 · NASA ASRS report 227833

Date: 1992-12 · Aircraft: Medium Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng · Phase: takeoff

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|other-unspecified

Synopsis

CAPT OF ACR MLG ACFT EXPERIENCED A FALSE TCASII ALERT AND WARNING IN A SHORT TIME RESULTING IN BRIEF EMOTIONAL TRAUMA TO THE PLT.

Narrative

FALSE TCASII AT LOW ALT. DANGEROUS RA COMMAND. WE DEPARTED SFO RWY 10R AT XA30 LCL. WE USED FULL PWR WITH A LIGHT WT (MLG ACFT). AT 1500 FT TCASII SHOWED A POP-UP TARGET AT 1 O'CLOCK AND 1/2 MI; 700 FT ABOVE US. AFTER THE TA THE TCASII GAVE US A DSND RA. AT THIS TIME WE STILL HAD TKOF FLAPS WITH A CLB RATE OF 4000 FPM AND A PITCH ATTITUDE OF PLUS 20 DEGS. OUR FIRST REACTION WAS TO LOOK FOR THE TARGET AND BEFORE WE COULD REACT THE TCASII DECLARED US CLR OF THE TARGET. OUR ALT WAS NOW ABOUT 2300 FT. TCASII STILL SHOWED A TARGET AT 2-3 O'CLOCK AND 1/2 MI. TCASII THEN DECLARED 'TFC' A SECOND TIME WITH A CLB RA OF PLUS 4000 FPM. THIS ENTIRE EVENT OCCURRED IN LESS THAN 60 SECONDS. THE PROBLEM HERE WAS THE TCASII VOLUME. TCASII VOLUME WAS SO LOUD I WAS UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH DEP CTL TO VERIFY THE VALIDITY OF THE TCASII TARGET. THIS WAS A DANGEROUS SITUATION. IMMEDIATELY AFTER TKOF; VERY HIGH RATE OF CLB (PLUS 4000 FPM); CLBING TO A TARGET ONLY 700 FT ABOVE US (IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN MORE THAN 1000 FT OF ALT TO STOP THE CLB AND START A DSCNT PUTTING US IN THE PATH OF THE INTRUDER A SECOND TIME) FINALLY OUR COM WITH DEP CTL WAS CUT BECAUSE OF THE LOUD VOLUME OF THE TCASII ALERTS. THE CONFUSION FACTOR WAS VERY HIGH. AS A CREW WE WERE VERY BUSY WITH THE TKOF PROFILE (WE STILL HAD THE FLAPS OUT). THE TCASII DECLARED TARGET; DSND; MONITOR VERT SPD; CLR OF TFC; TARGET; CLB AND CLR OF TFC ALL IN ABOUT 65 SECONDS. THE INITIAL COMMAND TO DSND COULD HAVE BEEN A VERY DANGEROUS DECISION. IF THIS SITUATION HAD OCCURRED AT NIGHT; THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY AN AIRPLANE WOULD DSND INTO THE WATERS OF SFO BAY. I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THE VOLUME OF THE TCASII ALERT WAS THE MOST DISTRACTING PART OF THIS ENCOUNTER. TCASII VOLUME WAS PART OF THE CERTIFICATION OF THE SYS. WHOEVER ESTABLISHED THIS DECIBEL LEVEL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE. IT IS CREATING A DANGEROUS SITUATION AND NEEDS TO BE FIXED NOW!

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.