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A pilot in an air carrier aircraft's jumpseat reported that the captain failed to respond to a TCAS RA and came within 400' of the detected traffic.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 884484 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201004 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Other / Unknown |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
During a recent deadhead in the jumpseat; I witnessed a TCAS RA non-compliance event. We passed 400 feet directly overhead of another aircraft which we never had in sight. TCAS showed the other aircraft to be at 9500' not having been in contact with ATC. The first officer prompted the captain to disengage the autopilot after realizing that he was not reacting. The very senior captain responded; 'I think we're okay;' and continued another 200-300' of descent to level off at the assigned 10;000' altitude even though the RA directed a climb. Unbelievable! There wasn't much time to do anything from where I was sitting. I would have taken the controls had I been in the first officer's seat. At that point we were leveling off at an unsafe 400' of vertical separation. I cannot believe that there are still pilots out there who think a GPWS pull-up; or a TCAS RA is something they can just decide how to handle on their own. I've seen and heard of others not complying; because they had the traffic in sight. The problem is that they don't understand that they may have the wrong aircraft in sight. Complying with a RA is a freebie with ATC. I do not understand why anyone would ever choose not to comply. Please get the word out about this very real threat. We could have lost a lot of lives had that aircraft decided to climb.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A Pilot in an air carrier aircraft's jumpseat reported that the Captain failed to respond to a TCAS RA and came within 400' of the detected traffic.
Narrative: During a recent deadhead in the jumpseat; I witnessed a TCAS RA non-compliance event. We passed 400 feet directly overhead of another aircraft which we never had in sight. TCAS showed the other aircraft to be at 9500' not having been in contact with ATC. The First Officer prompted the Captain to disengage the autopilot after realizing that he was not reacting. The very senior Captain responded; 'I think we're okay;' and continued another 200-300' of descent to level off at the assigned 10;000' altitude even though the RA directed a climb. Unbelievable! There wasn't much time to do anything from where I was sitting. I would have taken the controls had I been in the First Officer's seat. At that point we were leveling off at an unsafe 400' of vertical separation. I cannot believe that there are still pilots out there who think a GPWS pull-up; or a TCAS RA is something they can just decide how to handle on their own. I've seen and heard of others not complying; because they had the traffic in sight. The problem is that they don't understand that they may have the wrong aircraft in sight. Complying with a RA is a freebie with ATC. I do not understand why anyone would ever choose not to comply. Please get the word out about this very real threat. We could have lost a lot of lives had that aircraft decided to climb.
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.