B737-700 DEPARTS ON A SID; THEN GIVEN VECTORS TOWARDS TERRAIN AND TFC. FLC RECEIVES RA ON TCASII AND CLBS ACFT TO AVOID TFC.

Date: 2003-01 · Aircraft: B737-700 · Phase: climb

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

B737-700 DEPARTS ON A SID; THEN GIVEN VECTORS TOWARDS TERRAIN AND TFC. FLC RECEIVES RA ON TCASII AND CLBS ACFT TO AVOID TFC.

Narrative

WE WERE DEPARTING ON RWY 25R IN LAS; PLANNING TO FLY THE STAAR 1 LNAV DEP. UPON CONTACT WITH DEP CTL; WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO MAINTAIN RWY HDG AND CLB TO FL190. AS WE PROCEEDED WBOUND ON RWY HDG; I WAS WATCHING CLOSELY THE TERRAIN AND MOUNTAINS AS THEY RAPIDLY APCHED. HOWEVER; BEING VMC DAYLIGHT; TERRAIN AVOIDANCE WAS NOT AN ISSUE. ALTHOUGH HAD IT NOT BEEN DAYLIGHT VMC THIS WOULD HAVE CONCERNED ME ALSO. ASSUMING THAT WE HAD BEEN FORGOTTEN; WE WERE JUST ABOUT TO QUERY THE CTLR; WHEN WE WERE ASSIGNED A R TURN TO 360 DEGS. APPROX HDG 310 DEGS (STILL IN THE TURN); THE CTLR GAVE A TA AND AN IMMEDIATE L TURN BACK TO HDG 270 DEGS. JUST AS WE REACHED HDG 270 DEGS; WE RECEIVED A TA FROM OUR TCASII; IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY AN RA TO CLB. I FOLLOWED THE RA INSTRUCTIONS AND IMMEDIATELY CLBED. WHEN I FINALLY SAW THE ACFT; HE WAS HEADED STRAIGHT FOR US. WE MANAGED TO CLB ABOVE THE OTHER ACFT AS WE BOTH PASSED TO EACH OTHER'S L SIDE. UPON ARR IN ZZZ; I CALLED THE LAS TRACON; AND WAS TOLD THAT NEITHER OUR CTL SECTOR NOR THE SECTOR OF THE OTHER ACFT WERE IN COM AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. THE LNAV SID/STARS CONCERN ME BECAUSE NOTHING IS EVER CONSISTENT. IN OUR CASE; WE WENT FROM LNAV TO HDG; TO BEING WHAT I THINK WAS FORGOTTEN (TOWARD TERRAIN); BACK TO LNAV AND RESUME THE DEP. HAD WE BEEN IN IMC; THE TERRAIN; AS WELL AS THE RA; WOULD HAVE BEEN (IN MY VIEW) MUCH MORE SERIOUS. I WISH NAV FREQS WERE PRINTED ON THE DEP PLATES TO MAKE OPS AT NIGHT OR IN THE WX MORE USER FRIENDLY. FINALLY; THE PRACTICE OF BEING ON A SID THEN OFF THE SID THEN BACK ON OR 'FLY THE ARR EXCEPT MAINTAIN 13000 FT' IS RIDICULOUS! HOW CAN WE FLY PROCS WHEN ATC CAN'T EVEN KEEP UP WITH THE PROCS WE'RE FLYING? I WISH WE WOULD USE OR GET RID OF THEM ALTOGETHER BEFORE SOMEBODY GETS KILLED!

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