MLG FLC TAKES UP WRONG HDG WHEN ISSUED VECTOR BY APCH CTL. TCASII ACTIVATES.
Synopsis
MLG FLC TAKES UP WRONG HDG WHEN ISSUED VECTOR BY APCH CTL. TCASII ACTIVATES.
Narrative
WE WERE AT 6000 FT MSL BEING VECTORED BY NEWARK APCH CTL ON A HDG OF 150 DEGS. THE CTLR WAS EXTREMELY BUSY; HE WAS DOING ALMOST NON STOP TALKING. HE GAVE US A L TURN TO WHAT I THOUGHT WAS 110 DEGS. ON THAT HDG WE SOON NOTICED A TCASII TARGET AT OUR ALT AND CLOSING AT ABOUT 3 MI. MY FO SAID 'I THINK HE GAVE US 010 DEGS' AS HE VERIFIED THE HDG (HIS HDG POINTER WAS ON 010 DEGS). I STARTED A L TURN AND CONTINUED A 30 DEG LEVEL TURN AS THE CTLR REISSUED A 010 DEG HDG. TFC WAS GOING BEHIND US NOW AND WE WERE GETTING TCASII WARNING (ALERTS) THEN ADVISORIES. FIRST WAS 'MONITOR VERT SPD' FOLLOWED BY CLB; CLB. AT THE SAME TIME I COULD HEAR THE CTLR TELLING US TO DSND. IT WAS PRETTY NOISY IN THE COCKPIT. A BIT CONFUSING TOO WITH ALL THAT CONFLICTING INSTRUCTIONS. AS SOON AS I RECEIVED 'CLR OF CONFLICT' I DSNDED TO 5000 FT. I CERTAINLY HAD THE WRONG HDG. WITHOUT TCASII I DON'T THINK I WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THE ERROR SOON ENOUGH TO HAVE AVOIDED A NEAR MISS. TCASII IS A GREAT TOOL. I'M SURE THAT PART OF MY MISREADING THE HDG WAS MY EXPECTATION THAT THE VECTOR WOULD HEAD US TOWARD THE ARPT NOT TO THE N. LISTEN; DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING IN A BUSY CTL AREA.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.