IFR air carrier with tlh TRACON; level at 7000 in IMC conditions; experienced TCAS RA with reported ...

Narrative:

I was flying at 7000 ft MSL heading 315 degrees; as per ATC (tallahassee departure) instruction. I noticed an aircraft on TCAS 500 ft above us and closing. We were IMC. ATC called and said; 'target at 12 o'clock; 7;500; 5 miles; opposite direction; type unknown.' the captain stated that we couldn't see the target because we were IMC; but had a target on TCAS. About 30 seconds went by before ATC told us to turn a heading of 270. I started the turn and the TCAS gave and RA to descend at a rate of 1500-2000 FPM. I turned off the autopilot; pulled the power levers to idle; and descended at a rate of 2000 FPM while continuing the turn. After descending approximately 500 ft; the TCAS said we were clear of conflict. The captain told ATC that we were responding to an RA and that we were clear of conflict. ATC told us to resume own navigation back on course/altitude and we complied. This occurred because the target aircraft was flying between large cloud formations VFR without talking to the local ATC facility and because tallahassee departure was a little late giving us a vector to avoid this target.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: IFR air carrier with TLH TRACON; level at 7000 in IMC conditions; experienced TCAS RA with reported traffic at 7500; reporter contending ATC's late actions contributed to the TCAS event.

Narrative: I was flying at 7000 FT MSL heading 315 degrees; as per ATC (Tallahassee Departure) instruction. I noticed an aircraft on TCAS 500 FT above us and closing. We were IMC. ATC called and said; 'Target at 12 o'clock; 7;500; 5 miles; opposite direction; type unknown.' The Captain stated that we couldn't see the target because we were IMC; but had a target on TCAS. About 30 seconds went by before ATC told us to turn a heading of 270. I started the turn and the TCAS gave and RA to descend at a rate of 1500-2000 FPM. I turned off the autopilot; pulled the power levers to idle; and descended at a rate of 2000 FPM while continuing the turn. After descending approximately 500 FT; the TCAS said we were clear of conflict. The Captain told ATC that we were responding to an RA and that we were clear of conflict. ATC told us to resume own navigation back on course/altitude and we complied. This occurred because the target aircraft was flying between large cloud formations VFR without talking to the local ATC facility and because Tallahassee Departure was a little late giving us a vector to avoid this target.

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.

Attributes
ACN	849888
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	TLH.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	SF 340B
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 44 Flight Crew Total 1800 Flight Crew Type 1000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

IFR air carrier with tlh TRACON; level at 7000 in IMC conditions; experienced TCAS RA with reported traffic at 7500; reporter contending ATC's late actions contributed to the TCAS event.