A321 captain reports a TCAS RA descending through 7;000 ft on the phlbo arrival to ewr. An RA climb ...

Narrative:

Arriving ewr on the phlbo arrival; ny approach control alerted us to traffic that was not displayed on TCAS. In the time it takes you to read this sentence; approach gave us a heading; we saw the traffic right in front of us just as it displayed on TCAS; and we got a TCAS RA to 'climb.' first officer accomplished the RA perfectly as we climbed above the traffic. The intruder appeared to be a cirrus in a climb between the points dylin and mersr on the phlbo arrival. We were descending through about 7;000 ft when the incident occurred. When the intruder did appear on the TCAS it was about 2 miles ahead and 300 ft below; in a climb. I estimate we were 500 ft above when we crossed. I'm sure we were close enough for him to hear us; as we filled his windshield just above him. The profile was required and an uneventful landing followed. As we all know; not all traffic gets displayed on TCAS all the time. First officer and I were scanning outside as we should while the aircraft was following the RNAV arrival. We did not spot the intruder because it was climbing in the same direction we were flying; so the smallest cross section was displayed to us. We were looking at its tail. Ny approach must have known about him; but did not alert us until we were close. They probably should have vectored us off the arrival sooner than they did. Keep alert; and scan outside; especially below 10;000 ft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 Captain reports a TCAS RA descending through 7;000 FT on the PHLBO arrival to EWR. An RA climb is initiated to avoid a Cirrus climbing along the arrival route.

Narrative: Arriving EWR on the PHLBO Arrival; NY Approach Control alerted us to traffic that was not displayed on TCAS. In the time it takes you to read this sentence; Approach gave us a heading; we saw the traffic right in front of us just as it displayed on TCAS; and we got a TCAS RA to 'climb.' First Officer accomplished the RA perfectly as we climbed above the traffic. The intruder appeared to be a Cirrus in a climb between the points DYLIN and MERSR on the PHLBO Arrival. We were descending through about 7;000 FT when the incident occurred. When the intruder did appear on the TCAS it was about 2 miles ahead and 300 FT below; in a climb. I estimate we were 500 FT above when we crossed. I'm sure we were close enough for him to hear us; as we filled his windshield just above him. The profile was required and an uneventful landing followed. As we all know; not all traffic gets displayed on TCAS all the time. First Officer and I were scanning outside as we should while the aircraft was following the RNAV Arrival. We did not spot the intruder because it was climbing in the same direction we were flying; so the smallest cross section was displayed to us. We were looking at its tail. NY Approach must have known about him; but did not alert us until we were close. They probably should have vectored us off the arrival sooner than they did. Keep alert; and scan outside; especially below 10;000 FT.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1110663
Time
Date	201308
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	N90.TRACON
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A321
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR PHLBO
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict

A321 captain reports a TCAS RA descending through 7;000 ft on the phlbo arrival to ewr. An RA climb is initiated to avoid a cirrus climbing along the arrival route.