AN ACR FLC ON THE LOC TO RWY 13R FINDS ANOTHER ACR ATTEMPTING TO JOIN THEM AFTER THEIR CTLR'S RADIO FAILS AND THEY RESPOND TO THEIR TCASII'S RA TWICE AS THE OTHER ACR'S CTLR CLBS HIS TFC ALONG WITH THE RPTR.

Date: 1996-07 · Aircraft: MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model · Phase: approach

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|conflict-airborne-conflict|other-unspecified

Synopsis

AN ACR FLC ON THE LOC TO RWY 13R FINDS ANOTHER ACR ATTEMPTING TO JOIN THEM AFTER THEIR CTLR'S RADIO FAILS AND THEY RESPOND TO THEIR TCASII'S RA TWICE AS THE OTHER ACR'S CTLR CLBS HIS TFC ALONG WITH THE RPTR.

Narrative

CLRED TO INTERCEPT RWY 13R LOC MAINTAIN 5000 FT. IN THE TURN LOST APCH CTL ON 119.?. I COULD HEAR APCH CTL TRYING TO XMIT BUT WAS JUST GETTING A CLICKING NOISE. SEVERAL OTHER ACFT ALSO CHKED ON WITH THE SAME PROB. WE ENTERED IMC AND INTERCEPTED RWY 13R LOC ABOUT SAME TIME. SHORTLY AFTER INTERCEPT PICKED UP CO-ALT TCASII CONTACT ON AN INTERCEPT TO RWY 13R LOC FROM R TO L. PROGRESSED TO A RED BOXED RA WITH VERBAL CLB; CLB; CLB AND 2000 FT PLUS VVI INDICATION. WE RESPONDED TO RA AND CLBED 6000 FT. DURING CLB I MONITORED CONTACT ON TCASII AND APPEARED TO CLB WITH US. AT 6000 FT TCASII WARNING WENT AWAY BUT CONTACT WAS STILL CO-ALT AND ON A SLIGHT DIVERGENT HEADING. CONTACT THEN TURNED BACK INTO RWY 13R LOC AND WE GOT ANOTHER RED BOXED RA WITH VERBAL CLB WARNING AND 2000 FT PLUS VVI. WE RESPONDED TO TCASII AND CLBED TO 7000 FT. THE CONTACT AGAIN CLBED WITH US TO 7000 FT. AS WE LEVELED AT 7000 FT WE BROKE OUT OF WX AND VISUAL PICKED UP AN ATR IN A 45 DEG SLICING R DSNDING TURN AWAY FROM US WELL WITHIN 1 NM. TIME SPENT BTWN THE 2 RA'S AT 6000 FT WAS LESS THAN 20 SECONDS. SOMETIME DURING THE SECOND RA APCH CTLS XMITTER CAME BACK UP AND A VERY BUSY CTLR WAS HANDING OUT FREQ CHANGES TO 118.1. I MADE CONTACT ON 118.1 AND INFORMED THEM I HAD RESPONDED TO 2 TCASII RA AND WANTED TO TALK TO SOMEONE ON LNDG. I RECEIVED A TELEPHONE NUMBER AND VECTORS FOR ANOTHER APCH TO RWY 13R. UPON DEBRIEF WITH CTLR; FOUND OUT THAT REACON WAS MOVING TO NEW BUILDING AND THEY HAD PROBS WITH THEIR XMITTERS. ALSO; THE OTHER PLT WAS ON ANOTHER WORKING FREQ AND RECEIVED EMER CLB INSTRUCTIONS TO 6000 FT AND 7000 FT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THIS MD80; SUPER 80 CAPT HAD 2 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH AN ATR ACFT DURING HIS APCH AND WAS UNABLE TO RESOLVE ALL OF THE EVENTS DURING HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH AN APCH CTL SUPVR. HE WAS ABLE TO ESTABLISH THAT HIS APCH CTLR HAD LOST HIS RADIO FREQ 119.4 (HE THINKS THAT THIS WAS THE FREQ) AND THE CTLR WORKING THE ATR DID VECTOR IT TOWARD THE SAME RWY 13R ILS LOC AND AT THE SAME ALT. JUST AS THE RPTR WAS REACTING TO HIS TCASII 'RA' THE OTHER CTLR WITH THE ATR (FREQ 118.1) ISSUED CLB INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAUSED THE SECOND ENCOUNTER. AND AS THE TCASII WAS RESOLVING THE SECOND ENCOUNTER THE OTHER CTLR ISSUED CLB INSTRUCTIONS AND AGAIN THE 2 ACFT ENDED UP AT THE ALT; BUT WERE ABLE TO VISUALLY ACQUIRE EACH OTHER. THE 118.1 CTLR ALSO HAD THE ATR TURN AWAY. THE FREQ 119.4 LOSS PROB HAS BEEN CORRECTED ACCORDING TO THE RPTR. HE DID NOT FIND OUT IF THE ATR HAD AN OPERATING TCASII OR WHY THE CTLR (118.1) DID NOT SIMPLY TURN THE ATR AWAY FROM THE LOC WHEN HE REALIZED THAT IT WAS OCCUPIED. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 341160: DUE TO RADIO FAILURE ON THE FEEDER POS; THE CTLR WORKING THAT POS WAS STILL RECOVERING. THE SF34 WAS ON THE ARR CTLR'S SYMBOL (MINE) BUT WAS STILL TALKING TO THE FEEDER. WHEN I OBSERVED THE SF34 HEADING TOWARD THE MD80 I YELLED TO THE FEEDER CTLR WHO TOOK ACTION. AS HE TURNED THE SF34; THE MD80 RESPONDED TO TCASII AND CLBED.

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