Narrative:

The tower controller assigned us to climb and maintain 17;000 ft and on course. We initially climbed runway heading until 400 ft AGL and then headed about 10 degrees left for our 'on course' using the heading bug. The controller stated that there was traffic inbound from the northeast at about 2;500 ft. As we climbed out I noticed the TCAS showing traffic to the northwest (on our climb-out path). As I noticed this; the TCAS alerted us 'traffic.' I headed about 5 degrees right and continued the climb to avoid the traffic. At this point we visually acquired the traffic and we were above him. The TCAS told us to 'monitor vertical speed' (which was to maintain the fast climb we were already doing). There were no other events after and the flight continued normally. We told the next controller what had happened and she gave us a phone number to call. The supervisor wanted more detail as to why the tower had issued us a takeoff into traffic.upon landing we called the supervisor and he explained to us that the traffic we encountered had been giving incorrect position reports to the tower. [The] ATC supervisor was apologetic and stated the tower doesn't use radar so he thought the traffic was off to our right and not in our climb path. In summary; I think we get a sense of security departing or arriving at a tower controlled airport. We must be aware that a tower may not have radar and it cannot separate you from VFR traffic.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CE-560XL flight crew experienced a TCAS RA with an inbound aircraft while departing SAF.

Narrative: The Tower Controller assigned us to climb and maintain 17;000 FT and on course. We initially climbed runway heading until 400 FT AGL and then headed about 10 degrees left for our 'on course' using the heading bug. The Controller stated that there was traffic inbound from the northeast at about 2;500 FT. As we climbed out I noticed the TCAS showing traffic to the northwest (on our climb-out path). As I noticed this; the TCAS alerted us 'traffic.' I headed about 5 degrees right and continued the climb to avoid the traffic. At this point we visually acquired the traffic and we were above him. The TCAS told us to 'monitor vertical speed' (which was to maintain the fast climb we were already doing). There were no other events after and the flight continued normally. We told the next Controller what had happened and she gave us a phone number to call. The Supervisor wanted more detail as to why the Tower had issued us a takeoff into traffic.Upon landing we called the Supervisor and he explained to us that the traffic we encountered had been giving incorrect position reports to the Tower. [The] ATC Supervisor was apologetic and stated the Tower doesn't use radar so he thought the traffic was off to our right and not in our climb path. In summary; I think we get a sense of security departing or arriving at a Tower controlled airport. We must be aware that a Tower may not have radar and it cannot separate you from VFR traffic.

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.