DURING VERY BUSY TFC PERIOD CTLR ISSUED IMMEDIATE TURN AND DSCNT TO ACR X. SIMULTANEOUSLY CREW SAW ACR Y ON COLLISION COURSE AND ACCELERATED DSCNT AND TURN.

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I WAS THE CAPT OF ACR X THE MORNING OF MAY/XA/98. DURING THE APCH INTO ATL; IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THE CTLR WAS OVERLOADED. THERE WERE NUMEROUS ACFT THAT WERE ATTEMPTING TO CHK IN; OBTAIN APCH CLRNC; OBTAIN LOWER ALTS; ETC; ALL WITH LIMITED DEGS OF SUCCESS. IN FACT; WE HAD BEEN ON THE FREQ (127.25) FOR APPROX 2 OR 3 MINS WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO CHK IN WITH THE CTLR. WE WERE AT 6000 FT MSL; 22 DME E OF ATLANTA WHEN WE NOTICED AN ACR Y JET PASS DIRECTLY BELOW US. WE COMMENTED TO EACH OTHER THAT WE WERE SURPRISED WE DIDN'T RECEIVE A TFC CALL ON HIM. AT THAT POINT; APCH CTL CAME UP AND ASKED 'ACR X; ARE YOU UP?' AS SOON AS WE ANSWERED 'AFFIRMATIVE; WE'RE HERE' WE WERE ISSUED AN IMMEDIATE L TURN TO 270 DEGS (WE WERE HDG 360 DEGS AT THE TIME) AND A DSCNT TO 5000 FT. WE IMMEDIATELY SAW THE REASON FOR THE COURSE AND ALT CHANGES -- THERE WAS AN ACR Y JET ON A RECIPROCAL COLLISION COURSE AND CO- ALT. I IMMEDIATELY DISENGAGED THE AUTOPLT; ROLLED THE ACFT TO APPROX 60-70 DEGS ANGLE OF BANK; AND PULLED THE ACFT TO THE DIRECTED HDG AND ALT. WE ESTIMATED WE WERE SOMEWHERE INSIDE A MILE AT THE CLOSEST POINT TO THE B757. HAD WE BEEN IN IMC CONDITIONS; A 30 DEG ANGLE OF BANK TURN WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE BROUGHT US MUCH CLOSER TO THE CONFLICTING TFC; AND WE MAY POSSIBLY HAVE HIT IT. I CANNOT OVEREMPHASIZE THE ROLE THAT TCASII COULD HAVE PLAYED IN THIS INCIDENT HAD IT BEEN INSTALLED. HOWEVER; WITHOUT TCASII; WE RELIED INSTEAD ON AN OVERLOADED CTLR AND OUR OWN VISUAL LOOKOUT -- THE RESULT OF WHICH LED TO A NEAR MISS AND; UNDER IMC CONDITIONS; COULD HAVE BEEN DISASTROUS. TCASII INSTALLATION ON CARGO ACFT MUST BE GIVEN A MUCH HIGHER PRIORITY THAN IT CURRENTLY IS RECEIVING.