Narrative:

At 8;000 feet; we were issued a 040 heading by newark approach. After a few minutes on this heading; we received a traffic advisory on TCAS showing the traffic at our altitude 5 miles away at our twelve o'clock position. Both of us started to scan visually for the traffic and I asked the pilot monitoring to query the controller. The controller was so busy issuing instructions to other aircraft and not leaving any time for us to call him without stepping all over other transmissions. As the traffic approached 3 miles away; we received a resolution advisory at the exact same time that the controller called us and issued us a descent to 4;000 feet. I disconnected the autopilot and started an immediate descent to 4;000 feet complying with the RA and the approach controller's instruction. During the descent; we acquired the traffic visually and estimate we were about 1-2 miles away and about 500 feet below and descending away from the traffic. Since the controller's clearance coincided with the resolution advisory there was no altitude deviation. As we leveled at 4;000 feet; we informed the controller that we responded to an RA during our descent.approach controller issued us a vector off the arrival but not a descent. He was working too many aircraft; forgot about us on a heading at 8;000 feet and issued us our descent instructions from 8;000 feet to 4;000 feet too late to avoid a TA and RA.the newark approach controller seemed extremely busy working all the aircraft in this area until handoffs to newark tower. Normally we are handed off to another controller before newark tower. We had a hard time checking in with him during the handoff from washington center as well as when we needed to query him about the traffic advisory. He was leaving no time between transmissions to let other aircraft transmit. I believe his area of responsibility and all the aircraft he was working led to task saturation and he forgot about us on a 040 heading and at co altitude 8;000 feet with the approaching airplane. His descent instructions were probably about one to two miles late and this lead to the TA and RA event. I think this would have been prevented if this controller was not working such a large area and volume of airplanes.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported experiencing an RA inbound to Newark and cited Controller workload as a contributing factor.

Narrative: At 8;000 feet; we were issued a 040 heading by Newark approach. After a few minutes on this heading; we received a Traffic Advisory on TCAS showing the traffic at our altitude 5 miles away at our twelve o'clock position. Both of us started to scan visually for the traffic and I asked the pilot monitoring to query the Controller. The Controller was so busy issuing instructions to other aircraft and not leaving any time for us to call him without stepping all over other transmissions. As the traffic approached 3 miles away; we received a Resolution Advisory at the exact same time that the Controller called us and issued us a descent to 4;000 feet. I disconnected the autopilot and started an immediate descent to 4;000 feet complying with the RA and the approach controller's instruction. During the descent; we acquired the traffic visually and estimate we were about 1-2 miles away and about 500 feet below and descending away from the traffic. Since the controller's clearance coincided with the Resolution Advisory there was no altitude deviation. As we leveled at 4;000 feet; we informed the Controller that we responded to an RA during our descent.Approach Controller issued us a vector off the arrival but not a descent. He was working too many aircraft; forgot about us on a heading at 8;000 feet and issued us our descent instructions from 8;000 feet to 4;000 feet too late to avoid a TA and RA.The Newark Approach Controller seemed extremely busy working all the aircraft in this area until handoffs to Newark Tower. Normally we are handed off to another Controller before Newark Tower. We had a hard time checking in with him during the handoff from Washington Center as well as when we needed to query him about the traffic advisory. He was leaving no time between transmissions to let other aircraft transmit. I believe his area of responsibility and all the aircraft he was working led to task saturation and he forgot about us on a 040 heading and at co altitude 8;000 feet with the approaching airplane. His descent instructions were probably about one to two miles late and this lead to the TA and RA event. I think this would have been prevented if this Controller was not working such a large area and volume of airplanes.

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.