CRJ900 first officer reported a TCAS event during vectors to ewr with VFR traffic 500 feet above. TC...

Attributes
ACN	1348828
Time
Date	201604
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	EWR.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 0 Vertical 300

Narrative:

We were being vectored to a visual approach to 22L at ewr. We were just north of the sweet intersection headed northeast. ATC advised us of VFR traffic 500 above us headed southeast. We had additional traffic 1000 below about 1 mile off our right side just ahead going northeast also. We spotted the traffic and the TCAS showed them only 300 above us. We were given a frequency change. Before checking in with the new controller the TCAS issued an RA with a 'monitor vertical speed' command. The vsi directive was to maintain our vs or descend. The captain held level and we continued to monitor the traffic. I advised the new controller with the check in. The RA cleared and the captain reconnected the autopilot. The minimum distance between us and the traffic was 300 feet. We continued to a visual approach with no further issues.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ900 First Officer reported a TCAS event during vectors to EWR with VFR traffic 500 feet above. TCAS showed the altitude difference to be 300 feet and commanded; 'Monitor Vertical Speed' possibly due to IFR traffic 1000 feet below.

Narrative: We were being vectored to a visual approach to 22L at EWR. We were just north of the SWEET intersection headed NE. ATC advised us of VFR traffic 500 above us headed SE. We had additional traffic 1000 below about 1 mile off our right side just ahead going NE also. We spotted the traffic and the TCAS showed them only 300 above us. We were given a frequency change. Before checking in with the new controller the TCAS issued an RA with a 'monitor vertical speed' command. The VSI directive was to maintain our VS or descend. The captain held level and we continued to monitor the traffic. I advised the new controller with the check in. The RA cleared and the captain reconnected the autopilot. The minimum distance between us and the traffic was 300 feet. We continued to a visual approach with no further issues.

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.

CRJ900 first officer reported a TCAS event during vectors to ewr with VFR traffic 500 feet above. TCAS showed the altitude difference to be 300 feet and commanded; 'monitor vertical speed' possibly due to IFR traffic 1000 feet below.