Narrative:

We were approaching dbq at 3;000 ft MSL on a 45 intercept to a right downwind for a visual approach to runway 36; about 9 NM northeast of the airport heading southwest. ZAU called out traffic of two experimental aircraft 12 o'clock; 3 miles VFR at 2;600 ft and said it 'should be all right' or something like that; and we were cleared for a visual approach. We then picked them up on TCAS at 2 miles and TCAS showed them below us climbing and gave us the alert 'traffic.' a few seconds later we received the RA 'descend; descend' at which time I tried to disconnect the autopilot with the wrong hand; I usually fly from the captain's seat; but was in the first officer seat. The autopilot was eventually disconnected and the RA was followed. We then picked up the flight of two visually about 1 mile off our right and about 200 ft above us. We descended to traffic pattern altitude and commenced the visual approach. We told the approach controller that we had been on a collision course with the flight of two and had a near miss and he said 'thanks for the pilot report.' when we switched to tower we heard the tower controller tell another aircraft that there was a learjet in the pattern and he didn't know what we were doing. We called the tower and were cleared for the visual approach and landed. Suggestions; it appeared that the tower controller and approach controller were not communicating. The tower knew that a flight of two had just departed VFR heading northeast and the approach controller knew he had us heading southwest and the flight of two heading northeast climbing toward us; but gave us no instructions nor showed any sense of urgency. Someone needed to give instructions to both of our flights to ensure we had separation during their departure and our arrival.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: LR40 pilot on approach to DBQ experienced a TCAS RA event with two VFR aircraft; the reporter claimed communications between the Approach Control and the Tower were inadequate leading to the mishap.

Narrative: We were approaching DBQ at 3;000 FT MSL on a 45 intercept to a right downwind for a visual approach to Runway 36; about 9 NM northeast of the airport heading southwest. ZAU called out traffic of two experimental aircraft 12 o'clock; 3 miles VFR at 2;600 FT and said it 'should be all right' or something like that; and we were cleared for a visual approach. We then picked them up on TCAS at 2 miles and TCAS showed them below us climbing and gave us the alert 'Traffic.' A few seconds later we received the RA 'descend; descend' at which time I tried to disconnect the autopilot with the wrong hand; I usually fly from the Captain's seat; but was in the First Officer seat. The autopilot was eventually disconnected and the RA was followed. We then picked up the flight of two visually about 1 mile off our right and about 200 FT above us. We descended to traffic pattern altitude and commenced the visual approach. We told the Approach Controller that we had been on a collision course with the flight of two and had a near miss and he said 'thanks for the pilot report.' When we switched to Tower we heard the Tower Controller tell another aircraft that there was a Learjet in the pattern and he didn't know what we were doing. We called the Tower and were cleared for the visual approach and landed. Suggestions; it appeared that the Tower Controller and Approach Controller were not communicating. The Tower knew that a flight of two had just departed VFR heading northeast and the Approach Controller knew he had us heading southwest and the flight of two heading northeast climbing toward us; but gave us no instructions nor showed any sense of urgency. Someone needed to give instructions to both of our flights to ensure we had separation during their departure and our arrival.

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.