Narrative:

I was the pilot flying on this flight and I will comment on what I remember. This whole incident literally lasted seconds from beginning to end. Shortly after departure we were given a 050 heading off the departure and then given direct to zzzzz intersection to join the SID and climb to 17;000 ft. Passing 8000 ft we received a TCAS alert for traffic at 9000 ft and 3 to 5 miles at our 11 position. Immediately ATC instructed us to maintain 8000 ft; which we replied that we were already passing 8600 ft and would descend to 8000 ft. I began the descent immediately and shortly received an RA. I turned off all automation and complied with the RA. I remember hearing 'maintain vertical speed' during the descent. I did not descend to 8000 ft because my first officer; the pm (pilot monitoring) had the corporate aircraft in sight and the RA was not telling us to. I maintained altitude as I saw the traffic pass below us from left to right. I remember the TCAS display showed the traffic 300 ft below us. The pm told ATC we had traffic in sight and was past us. I queried ATC about giving us a descent to 8000 ft where the traffic was. ATC said he was at 9000 ft. The traffic was certainly not at 9000 ft because we were at 8300 ft and he passed under us. TCAS certainly saved us this day. We assume the TCAS in the other aircraft was giving him a descend RA; since we were climbing but ATC gave us the descend; which probably made their TCAS descend them faster. The contradiction in TCAS ras and ATC instructions certainly had us in the 'red.' we were given a frequency change to center and continued to destination. We ACARS'd a message to dispatch as immediate notification but received no response. I called dispatch by phone.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew reported that while ATC asked them to descend and maintain altitude; TCAS told them to 'CLIMB' for traffic. TCAS and ATC were in disagreement.

Narrative: I was the Pilot Flying on this flight and I will comment on what I remember. This whole incident literally lasted seconds from beginning to end. Shortly after departure we were given a 050 heading off the Departure and then given DIRECT to ZZZZZ intersection to join the SID and climb to 17;000 FT. Passing 8000 FT we received a TCAS alert for traffic at 9000 FT and 3 to 5 miles at our 11 position. Immediately ATC instructed us to maintain 8000 FT; which we replied that we were already passing 8600 FT and would descend to 8000 FT. I began the descent immediately and shortly received an RA. I turned off all automation and complied with the RA. I remember hearing 'Maintain Vertical Speed' during the descent. I did not descend to 8000 FT because my First Officer; the PM (Pilot Monitoring) had the corporate aircraft in sight and the RA was not telling us to. I maintained altitude as I saw the traffic pass below us from left to right. I remember the TCAS display showed the traffic 300 FT below us. The PM told ATC we had traffic in sight and was past us. I queried ATC about giving us a descent to 8000 FT where the traffic was. ATC said he was at 9000 FT. The traffic was certainly not at 9000 FT because we were at 8300 FT and he passed under us. TCAS certainly saved us this day. We assume the TCAS in the other aircraft was giving him a descend RA; since we were climbing but ATC gave us the descend; which probably made their TCAS descend them faster. The contradiction in TCAS RAs and ATC instructions certainly had us in the 'Red.' We were given a frequency change to Center and continued to destination. We ACARS'd a message to Dispatch as immediate notification but received no response. I called Dispatch by Phone.

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.