Emb-145 first officer reported a near midair collision with a light aircraft on arrival into ewr.

Attributes
ACN	1436194
Time
Date	201703
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	N90.TRACON
State Reference	NY
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Airspace Violation All Types Conflict NMAC

Narrative:

VFR conditions prevailed during arrival into ewr. [We were] taken off of the fmq RNAV arrival and given vectors for spacing and sequencing to the west of ewr for a landing on runway 4R. Flying at 5000 ft; autopilot on and approx. 190 kts assigned; we were turned from a downwind to base heading. Approx 15-20 nm southwest of the airport we were given a traffic warning message from ATC 'traffic 1 o'clock; 5500 ft and closing; may be descending'. The capt and I spotted a single engine low wing aircraft (cherokee) approximately 300-500 feet above and trying to turn away from us. Almost no time was available to take action; no deviations or changes in automation occurred. ATC stated that aircraft had inadvertently flown into the class B airspace. We never received a traffic proximity warning as the TCAS was [on] MEL. During pre-departure briefing and during all flight phases we discussed the TCAS outage and ensured we were actively looking for traffic during all phases of flight. No further actions or occurrences were encountered.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 First Officer reported a NMAC with a light aircraft on arrival into EWR.

Narrative: VFR conditions prevailed during arrival into EWR. [We were] taken off of the FMQ RNAV arrival and given vectors for spacing and sequencing to the west of EWR for a landing on Runway 4R. Flying at 5000 ft; autopilot on and approx. 190 kts assigned; we were turned from a downwind to base heading. Approx 15-20 nm southwest of the airport we were given a traffic warning message from ATC 'Traffic 1 o'clock; 5500 ft and closing; may be descending'. The Capt and I spotted a single engine low wing aircraft (Cherokee) approximately 300-500 feet above and trying to turn away from us. Almost no time was available to take action; no deviations or changes in automation occurred. ATC stated that aircraft had inadvertently flown into the Class B airspace. We never received a traffic proximity warning as the TCAS was [on] MEL. During pre-departure briefing and during all flight phases we discussed the TCAS outage and ensured we were actively looking for traffic during all phases of flight. No further actions or occurrences were encountered.

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.