Narrative:

On initial climb out we were given a climb to 4000 feet. Upon arrival to 4000 feet we were notified by departure control that we had traffic at 4300 feet. We were given a turn to 090 degrees which turned us slightly into the traffic. At this time the traffic was 300 feet above us and approximately 2000 feet horizontal distance. TCAS prompted an RA to monitor vertical speed to avoid climb however we had already leveled off at 4000 feet. As the target moved closer to us (approximately 1000 feet); I continued the turn past 090 degrees to approximately 040 degrees to avoid having an unseen aircraft (morning sun in our eyes) fly over us with only 300 feet clearance. Our TCAS does not give lateral instructions to avoid contact with other aircraft; only vertical. It was in my opinion; too close to avoid an aircraft by 300 feet vertically with 155 people on my aircraft. In other TCAS RA and TA events in this airspace; we have warned ATC that we may have an RA if we follow their vectors to turn on occasion. In one instance; ATC turned me directly into oncoming traffic while descending to their altitude as instructed by ATC. After notifying ATC of this; they have said; 'turn whichever way you have to turn to avoid the aircraft.' in this instance; I did a turn past my assigned heading of 090 to 040 degrees without notifying ATC as their was radio congestion and my first officer was looking out the window looking to avoid contact with the aircraft while I worked on holding our altitude and turning the aircraft while flying by hand after the aircraft speed hold failed to capture my selected speed of 200 knots. During the RA; the aircraft had failed to capture speed and remained in climb power level at 4000 feet. At 220 knots I noted the speed issue and disconnected the auto-throttles to manually slow the aircraft. This is due to the fact that we may have been slightly under the outside edge of class B airspace for phoenix sky harbor with the usual 200 knot speed limit. This would normally not cause much concern were it not for the fact that while all this was happening; we had an FAA jump seat along for the ride monitoring the flight who may or may not have fully appreciated the complexity of handling numerous tasks at the same time; an RA; an auto-throttle glitch; possible airspace/airspeed restrictions issues; congested radio frequency; etc. While our FAA inspector appeared to be impressed with how we handled the situation; upon further reflection; I decided to file this report based on the fact that we did technically deviate from an ATC clearance to a heading of approximately 040 degrees instead of maintaining a heading of 090 degrees without notifying ATC. My first officer and I are not sure we notified ATC of the RA after the fact as well. To be honest; RA's in this airspace are so common; it has almost become second nature to do what we have to do to avoid other aircraft and file the paperwork after the fact. The airspace surrounding kiwa is as accident waiting to happen and has been for over 2 years. Many pilots and management working for our carrier; including myself; have personally spent time talking with the FAA and ATC facilities in attempt to have the problem rectified. However; the airport does not have sufficient passenger numbers to allow the airport to be placed into 'C' airspace under the current guidelines. The airport is literally surrounded with training aircraft flying every which way climbing and descending in addition to the 'combat' aircraft taking customers up for simulated dog-fights resulting in extremely high vertical speed changes sometimes prompting impossible vertical TCAS RA's to avoid the aircraft with simple vertical maneuvering resulting in steep turns in addition to aggressive maneuvering to avoid these aircraft. This is one of the reasons we were not comfortable with only 300 feet of vertical clearance with another aircraft in that airspace when from past events; that aircraftmay have been about to practice stall/spin training as we passed under it as we have seen many; many times. I am convinced that the only way to rectify this problem to get class C airspace around iwa immediately; before we have a mid-air accident at this airport. As it stands today; we have aircraft practicing steep turns; stalls/spins and having 'dog-fights' 1 mile outside class D airspace directly in our departure/arrival path at our assigned altitude every day.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier Captain described a TCAS RA; the airspace congestion and the conflicts which develop around the IWA airspace as training aircraft sometimes aggressively maneuver near that airport adjacent to PHX Class B airspace.

Narrative: On initial climb out we were given a climb to 4000 feet. Upon arrival to 4000 feet we were notified by Departure Control that we had traffic at 4300 feet. We were given a turn to 090 degrees which turned us slightly into the traffic. At this time the traffic was 300 feet above us and approximately 2000 feet horizontal distance. TCAS prompted an RA to monitor vertical speed to avoid climb however we had already leveled off at 4000 feet. As the target moved closer to us (approximately 1000 feet); I continued the turn past 090 degrees to approximately 040 degrees to avoid having an unseen aircraft (morning sun in our eyes) fly over us with only 300 feet clearance. Our TCAS does not give lateral instructions to avoid contact with other aircraft; only vertical. It was in my opinion; too close to avoid an aircraft by 300 feet vertically with 155 people on my aircraft. In other TCAS RA and TA events in this airspace; we have warned ATC that we may have an RA if we follow their vectors to turn on occasion. In one instance; ATC turned me directly into oncoming traffic while descending to their altitude as instructed by ATC. After notifying ATC of this; they have said; 'turn whichever way you have to turn to avoid the aircraft.' In this instance; I did a turn past my assigned heading of 090 to 040 degrees without notifying ATC as their was radio congestion and my First Officer was looking out the window looking to avoid contact with the aircraft while I worked on holding our altitude and turning the aircraft while flying by hand after the aircraft speed hold failed to capture my selected speed of 200 knots. During the RA; the aircraft had failed to capture speed and remained in climb power level at 4000 feet. At 220 knots I noted the speed issue and disconnected the auto-throttles to manually slow the aircraft. This is due to the fact that we may have been slightly under the outside edge of Class B airspace for Phoenix Sky Harbor with the usual 200 knot speed limit. This would normally not cause much concern were it not for the fact that while all this was happening; we had an FAA jump seat along for the ride monitoring the flight who may or may not have fully appreciated the complexity of handling numerous tasks at the same time; an RA; an auto-throttle glitch; possible airspace/airspeed restrictions issues; congested radio frequency; etc. While our FAA Inspector appeared to be impressed with how we handled the situation; upon further reflection; I decided to file this report based on the fact that we did technically deviate from an ATC clearance to a heading of approximately 040 degrees instead of maintaining a heading of 090 degrees without notifying ATC. My First Officer and I are not sure we notified ATC of the RA after the fact as well. To be honest; RA's in this airspace are so common; it has almost become second nature to do what we have to do to avoid other aircraft and file the paperwork after the fact. The airspace surrounding KIWA is as accident waiting to happen and has been for over 2 years. Many pilots and management working for our carrier; including myself; have personally spent time talking with the FAA and ATC facilities in attempt to have the problem rectified. However; the airport does not have sufficient passenger numbers to allow the airport to be placed into 'C' airspace under the current guidelines. The airport is literally surrounded with training aircraft flying every which way climbing and descending in addition to the 'combat' aircraft taking customers up for simulated dog-fights resulting in extremely high vertical speed changes sometimes prompting impossible vertical TCAS RA's to avoid the aircraft with simple vertical maneuvering resulting in steep turns in addition to aggressive maneuvering to avoid these aircraft. This is one of the reasons we were not comfortable with only 300 feet of vertical clearance with another aircraft in that airspace when from past events; that aircraftmay have been about to practice stall/spin training as we passed under it as we have seen many; many times. I am convinced that the only way to rectify this problem to get Class C airspace around IWA immediately; before we have a mid-air accident at this airport. As it stands today; we have aircraft practicing steep turns; stalls/spins and having 'dog-fights' 1 mile outside Class D airspace directly in our departure/arrival path at our assigned altitude every day.

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.