A B737 flight crew experienced a TCAS RA during night visual approach to runway 16L at den. Crew des...

Attributes
ACN	939720
Time
Date	201103
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	DEN.Airport
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 161 Flight Crew Type 11000
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 195 Flight Crew Type 12000
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude

Narrative:

Our flight was vectored to ILS final for runway 16L at den. Our aircraft was assigned 8;000 ft when cleared for the visual approach. Another aircraft was straight in for ILS 16R at 10;000 ft when cleared for their visual. The geometry was such that both aircraft ended up line-abreast on final with the other aircraft stacked higher to the west. Both aircraft had each other in sight. We descended to final approach fix altitude and were driving level to intercept glideslope from below at the fix to ensure separation. As the other aircraft intercepted glide path and started to descend; we started getting TCAS traffic warnings. We were around 1;500 ft AGL when we got a descend RA and complied. It was night; no moon; low cultural lighting; now below glideslope; red over red on the VASI; not a very comforting situation. Shortly after; the other aircraft initiated a go-around due to an RA. The landing and taxi in were uneventful. The whole situation was caused by ATC putting both aircraft on close parallel approaches without proper separation.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 flight crew experienced a TCAS RA during night visual approach to Runway 16L at DEN. Crew descended to FAF altitude and other aircraft went around.

Narrative: Our flight was vectored to ILS final for Runway 16L at DEN. Our aircraft was assigned 8;000 FT when cleared for the visual approach. Another aircraft was straight in for ILS 16R at 10;000 FT when cleared for their visual. The geometry was such that both aircraft ended up line-abreast on final with the other aircraft stacked higher to the west. Both aircraft had each other in sight. We descended to final approach fix altitude and were driving level to intercept glideslope from below at the fix to ensure separation. As the other aircraft intercepted glide path and started to descend; we started getting TCAS traffic warnings. We were around 1;500 FT AGL when we got a descend RA and complied. It was night; no moon; low cultural lighting; now below glideslope; red over red on the VASI; not a very comforting situation. Shortly after; the other aircraft initiated a go-around due to an RA. The landing and taxi in were uneventful. The whole situation was caused by ATC putting both aircraft on close parallel approaches without proper separation.

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.

A B737 flight crew experienced a TCAS RA during night visual approach to runway 16L at den. Crew descended to FAF altitude and other aircraft went around.