Beechjet 400 captain reports TCAS RA while entering the VFR pattern at a tower controlled airport. N...

Attributes
ACN	849446
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Beechjet 400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 45 Flight Crew Total 17250 Flight Crew Type 45
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 500 Vertical 300

Narrative:

At 3000 feet 10 NM northwest; approach pointed out the airport & after visual confirmation cleared our beechjet 400 for a visual and to contact tower. I planned to enter downwind at 1500 AGL on a 45 abeam the runway. Approach stated other aircraft were in the pattern and I looked at my mfd for traffic and visually saw none. As soon as I turned downwind; I got an RA and by the time I could react; was by the traffic. I never saw him & never reacted. I believe that I passed over the traffic by a few hundred feet & was considerably faster. The copilot never saw the traffic & by the time TCAS avoidance was over; we were by the traffic. I thought I was careful enough but obviously need to be much more vigilant going into airports with tower only & no approach radar.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Beechjet 400 Captain reports TCAS RA while entering the VFR pattern at a tower controlled airport. No TCAS targets were visible prior to the warning and no evasive action was taken before the warning quickly ended.

Narrative: At 3000 feet 10 NM NW; Approach pointed out the airport & after visual confirmation cleared our Beechjet 400 for a visual and to contact Tower. I planned to enter downwind at 1500 AGL on a 45 abeam the runway. Approach stated other aircraft were in the pattern and I looked at my MFD for traffic and visually saw none. As soon as I turned downwind; I got an RA and by the time I could react; was by the traffic. I never saw him & never reacted. I believe that I passed over the traffic by a few hundred feet & was considerably faster. The Copilot never saw the traffic & by the time TCAS avoidance was over; we were by the traffic. I thought I was careful enough but obviously need to be much more vigilant going into airports with tower only & no approach radar.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Beechjet 400 captain reports TCAS RA while entering the VFR pattern at a tower controlled airport. No TCAS targets were visible prior to the warning and no evasive action was taken before the warning quickly ended.