An air carrier aircrew was unable to receive clearance to land at aruba because of frequency congest...

Attributes
ACN	1228552
Time
Date	201412
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	TNCA.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 186
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

We were told to fly to the 10 DME fix off runway 11 tnca aruba; expect visual approach. When we never received any clearance; we held at the 10 DME fix as instructed on the 10-9 back page tells to do. Could not get a word in with ATC. Finally they told us to turn right and do a 360 and then intercept the localizer.we started the turn; and when I looked out the window; we had a hawker (small business jet) only one mile away and maybe only 500 feet below us. Captain stopped the turn and we let the hawker fly away from us. Then we continued the approach. The controllers did not have a clue where we or the hawker were. At least 10 aircraft on the tower freq; some speaking english; some speaking spanish. Because of the non-radar environment down there; crews should be high alert and watching for traffic on their own - not rely on ATC. Trust me; they had no clue]

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier aircrew was unable to receive clearance to land at Aruba because of frequency congestion. They entered a holding pattern IAW SOP. They were then given a 360 degree turn; which they delayed because of traffic then intercepted the localizer and landed.

Narrative: We were told to fly to the 10 DME fix off Runway 11 TNCA Aruba; expect visual approach. When we never received any clearance; we held at the 10 DME fix as instructed on the 10-9 back page tells to do. Could not get a word in with ATC. Finally they told us to turn right and do a 360 and then intercept the LOC.We started the turn; and when I looked out the window; we had a Hawker (small business jet) only one mile away and maybe only 500 feet below us. Captain stopped the turn and we let the Hawker fly away from us. Then we continued the approach. The Controllers did not have a clue where we or the Hawker were. At least 10 aircraft on the Tower freq; some speaking English; some speaking Spanish. Because of the non-radar environment down there; Crews should be high alert and watching for traffic on their own - not rely on ATC. Trust me; they had no clue]

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

An air carrier aircrew was unable to receive clearance to land at aruba because of frequency congestion. They entered a holding pattern in accordance with SOP. They were then given a 360 degree turn; which they delayed because of traffic then intercepted the localizer and landed.