MLG HAS TCASII RA AT 700 FT AGL ON APCH.

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TO BEGIN WITH I AM A FO FOR ABC AIRLINES ON THE MLG X. SINCE I'VE BEEN ON THIS AIRPLANE; I'M CONSTANTLY DISCOVERING THAT ATC HOLDS US CONSISTENTLY HIGH WHICH MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR US TO DSND USING NORMAL RATES OF DSCNT. ALMOST EVERY APCH IS FLOWN AT IDLE PWR WITH THE GEAR; FLAPS; SPOILERS; AND EVERYTHING ELSE; INCLUDING THE KITCHEN SINK; HANGING OUT IN ORDER TO REACH THE RWY IN TIME TO LAND. AT THE ABSOLUTE BEST WE'RE USUALLY GETTING STABILIZED ON THE APCH WITH THE ENGS SPOOLED UP AT AROUND 500-1000 FT AGL ALMOST EVERY TIME. I'M SURE ATC MAY NOT BE AWARE OF IT; BUT THE MLG X JUST WON'T COME OUT OF THE AIR LIKE THE LGT Y WOULD. AS FOR OUR INCIDENT INTO PDX WE WERE HELD HIGH AS USUAL. I HAD SLOWED TO MINIMUM MANEUVER SPD WITH FLAPS AT 10 DEGS (THIS WAS 160 KTS IN OUR CONFIGN THAT NIGHT) BY THE TIME WE WERE DOWNWIND. WE WERE DOWNWIND ABEAM THE RWY AT 6000 FT MSL BEFORE ATC FINALLY GAVE US LOWER. THEY THEN CLRED US FOR THE MILL VISUAL TO RWY 28R AND WE WERE TOLD TO TURN IN ASAP DUE TO A JET E OF US. ALSO; WE WERE ASKED TO STAY OVER THE RIVER FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE FOR NOISE ABATEMENT. I ALMOST IMMEDIATELY CONFIGURED FOR LNDG AND WENT TO FINAL APCH SPD BUT WE STILL WERE HAVING A HARD TIME GETTING DOWN. ON FINAL TO RWY 28R ATC ASKED US TO SIDESTEP TO RWY 28L DUE TO TFC N OF PDX (AN SMA) THAT HAD JUST BEEN CLRED TO LAND ON RWY 28R. AT ABOUT 700-1000 FT AGL WE WERE JUST STARTING TO GET IN NORMAL POS WHEN THE TCASII GAVE US AN RA SO I WENT AROUND. ON THE MISSED APCH PDX DEP SENT US TO 6000 FT MSL AND AGAIN THAT KEPT US VERY HIGH AND STILL EXPECTED US TO COME DOWN LIKE A ROCK AND MAKE A TIGHT APCH. SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL ATC NOT ONLY AT PDX; BUT EVERYWHERE; THAT THE NEW GENERATION OF ACFT JUST WON'T COME OUT OF THE AIR LIKE THE OLDER GENERATION OF ACFT DO. WE'VE GOT TO HAVE MORE TIME AND DISTANCE TO GET CONFIGURED. AS FOR OUR RA AT PDX I FEEL THAT WE PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN AN RA HAD WE NOT HAD SUCH A HIGH RATE OF DSCNT ON FINAL AS WE WERE SIDESTEPPING OVER TO THE PARALLEL RWY. NEITHER ONE OF US IN THE COCKPIT SAW THE AIRPLANE AND PDX TWR SAID THAT HE WAS NO FACTOR ON THE PARALLEL RWY. SEVERAL PAX TOLD OUR FLT ATTENDANTS AS THEY WERE LEAVING THAT THEY SAW AN AIRPLANE PASS UNDER US AS WE WENT AROUND. I BELIEVE THEY SAW THE AIRPLANE GO BY ON THE PARALLEL RWY AS WE WENT AROUND ALTHOUGH I GUESS IT'S POSSIBLE THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A THIRD AIRPLANE OUT THERE THAT NEITHER ME; THE CAPT; NOR ATC SAW. IF THAT'S THE CASE THEN I'M GLAD WE HAD THE TCASII.