A flight crew of a B737-700 reported that on initial approach they were cleared to follow traffic fo...

Narrative:

During arrival we were being vectored and descending to 3000'. The captain was flying and the first officer (first officer) was working the radios. Our final vector was 110 degrees and we were asked to call visual on company traffic at approximately 12 O'clock. We could see the traffic; and were immediately cleared to follow the traffic and cleared for the visual approach. Immediately after accepting the clearance we realized that the company traffic was much farther from the localizer than expected. Due to our converging headings; we also could not immediately judge our relative speeds; and we would need a turn away from the field to gain the proper distance from him. As we were trying to square off the turn and talk to approach control; they called for us to switch to tower. We felt it was better to stay with approach and work out vectors when they called us back and asked if we were still on frequency. Possibly the controller recognized the situation and he informed us we had a 70 knot overtaking speed.at this point we replied that we were still up; and were abeam the company traffic and needed to maneuver away from company. A second (senior?) controller came over and informed us that since we called the company in sight and accepted the visual approach it was our responsibility for separation. This was frustrating since we were in a time critical situation; and it seemed the senior controller was more interested in placing blame versus giving vectors from the abeam traffic. We replied with something like yes; we know that; but usually we aren't vectored head-to-head and it was a bad vector.' his reply was that there would be a phone number to call upon landing. The first controller gave us a new vector away from the field and we complied. With the new vectors we continued the approach and landed uneventfully. A phone number was given by ground control after landing. Our chief pilot advised us not to call and that a company representative would contact ATC.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight Crew of a B737-700 reported that on initial approach they were cleared to follow traffic for a visual approach to the runway. Due to their speed they were unable to maintain spacing.

Narrative: During arrival we were being vectored and descending to 3000'. The Captain was flying and the First Officer (FO) was working the radios. Our final vector was 110 degrees and we were asked to call visual on Company traffic at approximately 12 O'clock. We could see the traffic; and were immediately cleared to follow the traffic and cleared for the visual approach. Immediately after accepting the clearance we realized that the Company traffic was much farther from the Localizer than expected. Due to our converging headings; we also could not immediately judge our relative speeds; and we would need a turn away from the field to gain the proper distance from him. As we were trying to square off the turn and talk to Approach Control; they called for us to switch to Tower. We felt it was better to stay with Approach and work out vectors when they called us back and asked if we were still on frequency. Possibly the Controller recognized the situation and he informed us we had a 70 knot overtaking speed.At this point we replied that we were still up; and were abeam the Company traffic and needed to maneuver away from Company. A second (senior?) Controller came over and informed us that since we called the Company in sight and accepted the visual approach it was our responsibility for separation. This was frustrating since we were in a time critical situation; and it seemed the senior Controller was more interested in placing blame versus giving vectors from the abeam traffic. We replied with something like yes; we know that; but usually we aren't vectored head-to-head and it was a bad vector.' His reply was that there would be a phone number to call upon landing. The first Controller gave us a new vector away from the field and we complied. With the new vectors we continued the approach and landed uneventfully. A phone number was given by Ground Control after landing. Our Chief pilot advised us not to call and that a Company representative would contact ATC.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1385836
Time
Date	201609
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Tower
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 232 Flight Crew Type 3500
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 232 Flight Crew Type 3500
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

A flight crew of a B737-700 reported that on initial approach they were cleared to follow traffic for a visual approach to the runway. Due to their speed they were unable to maintain spacing.