Narrative:

While operating in cruise at 6000 ft with the autopilot engaged ATC called traffic out to me; 12 o'clock 5 miles maneuvering; restricted at 5500 ft. I called the traffic in sight when I saw the aircraft. As I closed on the other aircraft's position I received a callout from the TCAS of 'traffic' which I expected due to the close proximity. When I was about 2 miles away from the aircraft I could see he was doing what looked to be steep turns and he passed directly in front of me; causing me to lose sight of him under the nose. About that same time the TCAS gave me a 'climb' command. I saw on the TCAS display the traffic was no longer level 500 ft below me but had started to climb into my path. The RA given was to climb between 2000-2500 FPM. I disconnected the autopilot; pitched the nose up to about 20 degrees; and increased to climb power. I also notified ATC that I was complying with an RA. When I received the 'clear of conflict' callout; I leveled off and asked ATC for further instructions. The rest of the flight was completed without incident. I believe at the closest point I was 0 ft horizontally and 200 ft vertically apart from the intruder aircraft. I believe TCAS is one of the most important safety features that can be installed in an aircraft. This incident shows that even if ATC is monitoring aircraft and you can see the other plane; it is still possible to lose separation. Without TCAS being installed; I would have never known the other plane was climbing toward me and the possibility of a mid-air collision would have greatly increased. There has been some discussion of removing the TCAS systems from our aircraft to save on costs and I think that would be a huge mistake. I think instead the company should be looking at ways to have all of our aircraft equipped with TCAS.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Beech 1900-C Captain reported taking evasive action in response to a TCAS RA during an NMAC event in the vicinity of KWANG Intersection.

Narrative: While operating in cruise at 6000 ft with the autopilot engaged ATC called traffic out to me; 12 o'clock 5 miles maneuvering; restricted at 5500 ft. I called the traffic in sight when I saw the aircraft. As I closed on the other aircraft's position I received a callout from the TCAS of 'Traffic' which I expected due to the close proximity. When I was about 2 miles away from the aircraft I could see he was doing what looked to be steep turns and he passed directly in front of me; causing me to lose sight of him under the nose. About that same time the TCAS gave me a 'Climb' command. I saw on the TCAS display the traffic was no longer level 500 ft below me but had started to climb into my path. The RA given was to climb between 2000-2500 FPM. I disconnected the autopilot; pitched the nose up to about 20 degrees; and increased to climb power. I also notified ATC that I was complying with an RA. When I received the 'Clear of Conflict' callout; I leveled off and asked ATC for further instructions. The rest of the flight was completed without incident. I believe at the closest point I was 0 ft horizontally and 200 ft vertically apart from the intruder aircraft. I believe TCAS is one of the most important safety features that can be installed in an aircraft. This incident shows that even if ATC is monitoring aircraft and you can see the other plane; it is still possible to lose separation. Without TCAS being installed; I would have never known the other plane was climbing toward me and the possibility of a mid-air collision would have greatly increased. There has been some discussion of removing the TCAS systems from our aircraft to save on costs and I think that would be a huge mistake. I think instead the company should be looking at ways to have all of our aircraft equipped with TCAS.

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.