B767 FLT CREW REPORTS TCAS RA AT 800 FEET DURING VISUAL APPROACH TO RWY 28R AT SFO. FLT CREW CONTINUES TO LAND AFTER CONSIDERING GAR.

Date: 2008-02 · Aircraft: B767-300 and 300 ER · Phase: approach

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|inflight-event-encounter-unstabilized-approach

Synopsis

B767 FLT CREW REPORTS TCAS RA AT 800 FEET DURING VISUAL APPROACH TO RWY 28R AT SFO. FLT CREW CONTINUES TO LAND AFTER CONSIDERING GAR.

Narrative

FO WAS FLYING AN FMS BRIDGE VISUAL TO RWY 28R AT SFO. ATC ASKED IF WE SAW AN ACFT AT OUR 8:30 O'CLOCK POS AND I RESPONDED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE. WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO MAINTAIN VISUAL AND I ACCEPTED THAT CLRNC BUT REMARKED THAT I DIDN'T BELIEVE IT WOULD WORK OUT AS THAT ACFT WAS BEHIND ME. I WAS TOLD BY ATC THAT HE WAS FASTER AND WOULD LAND FIRST. THE B737 CHKED IN ON FREQ AND WAS ASKED IF SAW US; HE SAID YES BUT COMPLAINED THAT HE WAS TOO FAST. NORCAL INSTRUCTED US TO SLOW DOWN TO 200 KTS WHICH WE DID. AS WE APCHED THE ARPT THE B737 DROPPED FARTHER BEHIND OUR WING AND I TOLD NORCAL THAT THIS WASN'T WORKING. I WAS TOLD I COULD LAND FIRST AND ACFT Y WOULD LAND BEHIND US. I INFORMED NORCAL THAT WE HAD NOW LOST VISUAL ON THE B737 AND WAS INSTRUCTED TO CONTACT SFO TWR WHICH WE DID AND WERE SUBSEQUENTLY CLRED TO LAND. THE FO FLEW A STABLE ON GS APCH. APPROX 800 FT WE GOT A TCAS ALERT INSTRUCTING US TO CLB. LOOKING OVER MY L SHOULDER THE B737 WAS ABOVE OUR GS AND BOTH DSNDING AND OVERTAKING US RAPIDLY. ADDITIONALLY; THERE WAS A B777 ON RWY 28L JUST BEGINNING ITS ROLL. THE FO STARTED TO COMPLY WITH TCAS BUT I DECIDED TO OVERRULE TCAS IN THAT IT WAS SAFER TO CONTINUE ON THE GS AS THE B737 MAY HAVE TO GO AROUND FOR THE B777; AND I FELT THAT 2 DISSIMILAR ACFT GOING AROUND WAS MORE RISKY; ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THE B737'S ERRATIC FLT PATH. HE SHORTLY PULLED UP WHICH APPEARED TO BE A GAR THEN DUMPED HIS NOSE AND DOVE FOR THE RWY. TCAS ALERT ENDED AND WE LANDED A COUPLE OF HUNDRED YARDS BEHIND HIM ON RWY 28R. I CALLED NORCAL AFTER THE FLT AND ASKED THEM TO REVIEW THE TAPES WHICH THEY DID. NORCAL INFORMED ME THAT THEY INTENDED TO START AN OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION AS THEIR CTLR FAILED TO FOLLOW PROCS AND SAFE SEPARATION WAS COMPROMISED. IN MY VIEW THE B737 PLT'S UNSTABLE APCH AND FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE PRINTED REQUIREMENTS OF SFO CHARTED VISUAL APCHS WAS THE REAL PROB. SEPARATION ON VISUAL APCHS CONTINUES TO BE A PROB AT SFO. I DID A GAR LAST MONTH BECAUSE THE ACFT I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FOLLOWING TO THE RWY WAS SLOWER THAN MY APCH SPD WOULD ALLOW ME TO FLY; NORCAL HAS A NUMBER OF NEW CTLRS WHO ERRONEOUSLY BELIEVE THAT ASSIGNED SPDS CAN BE MAINTAINED UNTIL TOUCHDOWN. I WAS TOLD RECENTLY THAT A TURBO-PROP BEHIND MY WING LINE WOULD LAND FIRST BECAUSE HE WAS DOING 250 KTS. OF COURSE WHEN HE SLOWED TO APCH SPD HE DISAPPEARED IN MY WAKE. THIS SITUATION NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED BEFORE SOME WAKE-TURB INCIDENT RESULTS IN A FATALITY.

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