<< >> NASA ASRS Report 909931, September 2010

While deviating around weather an A320 received a TCAS RA with respect to an apparent military aircraft traveling the opposite direction.

Attributes
ACN	909931
Time
Date	201009
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZKC.ARTCC
State Reference	KS
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Military
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 270 Flight Crew Total 14000 Flight Crew Type 2500
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 230 Flight Crew Total 12000 Flight Crew Type 5000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

While at FL370 kansas city center gave us a traffic advisory of oncoming traffic at FL380; heading the opposite way. We acknowledged to ATC we saw him and then we received a TCAS RA to descend. The first officer smoothly clicked off the auto pilot; pitched down to match the RA vsi bar and reduced the throttles to ensure we did not overspeed. Simultaneously I told ATC on the radio we were doing an emergency descent and following a TCAS RA command. The opposing aircraft flew right over us and we estimated it was less than 800 ft. We had descended to FL365 when the TCAS announced clear of conflict. We climbed back to FL370; re-set the auto pilot and auto throttles and told ATC what happened and that we were back on track. The seat belt sign was on because we had just transited some turbulence. No passengers or flight attendants were injured; although after the flight the flight attendants inquired about the pitch down.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While deviating around weather an A320 received a TCAS RA with respect to an apparent military aircraft traveling the opposite direction.

Narrative: While at FL370 Kansas City Center gave us a traffic advisory of oncoming traffic at FL380; heading the opposite way. We acknowledged to ATC we saw him and then we received a TCAS RA to descend. The First Officer smoothly clicked off the auto pilot; pitched down to match the RA VSI bar and reduced the throttles to ensure we did not overspeed. Simultaneously I told ATC on the radio we were doing an emergency descent and following a TCAS RA command. The opposing aircraft flew right over us and we estimated it was less than 800 FT. We had descended to FL365 when the TCAS announced clear of conflict. We climbed back to FL370; re-set the auto pilot and auto throttles and told ATC what happened and that we were back on track. The seat belt sign was on because we had just transited some turbulence. No passengers or Flight Attendants were injured; although after the flight the Flight Attendants inquired about the pitch down.

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.