Narrative:

I was the flying pilot serving as first officer on the trip. The pilot not flying was handling the radio and navigation input. On final approach; the pilot not flying told me I had the communications radio while he attempted to contact ground personnel at the FBO on the other radio. I was then handed off to tower; and was performing the approach checklist while configuring the aircraft for the ILS. Tower called traffic ahead; and I acknowledged. Shortly after glideslope intercept; I observed the traffic on TCAS closing at the twelve o'clock position. As I flew down the glideslope; I observed the altitude separation of the target and my aircraft began to decrease. There was a rain shower on final that approach control had warned about; and we began entering moderate rain. I had little forward visibility from three to two miles out on final. At that point; the pilot not flying returned; and I briefed him. I intended to have him ask ATC about the traffic; but he was unable due to frequency congestion. The TCAS called a traffic alert; and soon our aircraft and the target were at the same altitude and closing. I was fully configured to land; and would have my hands full on an RA call from the TCAS. I felt an RA was imminent considering the closure rate of the target. I had no visual contact due to the moderate rain. I added power and began to climb with a slight left turn. The pilot not flying advised ATC that we were going around. The pilot of the other aircraft then stated that he had us in sight; and the pilot not flying observed the aircraft at our three o'clock position; at our altitude within one mile. The controller advised us to maintain three thousand and fly the runway heading. I had already climbed to about three thousand seven hundred MSL by the time I had the aircraft re-configured. We flew out of the rain; saw the airport and landed visually. The tower requested we call them; which we did. We discussed the incident in detail; and learned that we interfered with no other aircraft. There was some question as to the distance we were in relation to the other aircraft. The range display was set at the ten mile position; as the radar was in use in looking beyond the airport area for precipitation. There was some question that the aircraft was not as close as initially believed to be indicated on the display due to the range. Even with that considered; I feel it was in the interest of safety to abandon the approach and avoid the aircraft. The pilot not flying and I have agreed that him leaving situational awareness to tend to extraneous activity was not conducive to proper cockpit resource management. I had increasing workload in a critical time; if he had been 'in the loop'; he may have been able to spot the aircraft. I feel that either better avoidance of the aircraft or possibly visually spotting the aircraft may have been accomplished with both crew members engaged in the situation. We have elected to prohibit this distraction in the future. The ATC supervisor also told us that in the future; they would be more mindful of VFR traffic in the area of the localizer.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An RA390 First Officer reported a TCAS target which generated a TA on an ILS final at 2;800 FT. The Captain was on a different radio and the First Officer could not see the traffic in rain and so began a go-around but landed after sighting the traffic.

Narrative: I was the flying pilot serving as First Officer on the trip. The pilot not flying was handling the radio and navigation input. On final approach; the pilot not flying told me I had the communications radio while he attempted to contact ground personnel at the FBO on the other radio. I was then handed off to Tower; and was performing the approach checklist while configuring the aircraft for the ILS. Tower called traffic ahead; and I acknowledged. Shortly after glideslope intercept; I observed the traffic on TCAS closing at the twelve o'clock position. As I flew down the glideslope; I observed the altitude separation of the target and my aircraft began to decrease. There was a rain shower on final that Approach Control had warned about; and we began entering moderate rain. I had little forward visibility from three to two miles out on final. At that point; the pilot not flying returned; and I briefed him. I intended to have him ask ATC about the traffic; but he was unable due to frequency congestion. The TCAS called a traffic alert; and soon our aircraft and the target were at the same altitude and closing. I was fully configured to land; and would have my hands full on an RA call from the TCAS. I felt an RA was imminent considering the closure rate of the target. I had no visual contact due to the moderate rain. I added power and began to climb with a slight left turn. The pilot not flying advised ATC that we were going around. The pilot of the other aircraft then stated that he had us in sight; and the pilot not flying observed the aircraft at our three o'clock position; at our altitude within one mile. The Controller advised us to maintain three thousand and fly the runway heading. I had already climbed to about three thousand seven hundred MSL by the time I had the aircraft re-configured. We flew out of the rain; saw the airport and landed visually. The Tower requested we call them; which we did. We discussed the incident in detail; and learned that we interfered with no other aircraft. There was some question as to the distance we were in relation to the other aircraft. The range display was set at the ten mile position; as the radar was in use in looking beyond the airport area for precipitation. There was some question that the aircraft was not as close as initially believed to be indicated on the display due to the range. Even with that considered; I feel it was in the interest of safety to abandon the approach and avoid the aircraft. The pilot not flying and I have agreed that him leaving situational awareness to tend to extraneous activity was not conducive to proper cockpit resource management. I had increasing workload in a critical time; if he had been 'in the loop'; he may have been able to spot the aircraft. I feel that either better avoidance of the aircraft or possibly visually spotting the aircraft may have been accomplished with both crew members engaged in the situation. We have elected to prohibit this distraction in the future. The ATC Supervisor also told us that in the future; they would be more mindful of VFR traffic in the area of the localizer.

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.