An air carrier crew was given a pilot discretion climb clearance from 16;000' to FL230 with 17;000' ...

Attributes
ACN	968391
Time
Date	201109
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZOB.ARTCC
State Reference	OH
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 8000 Flight Crew Type 676
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 230 Flight Crew Total 9000 Flight Crew Type 4900
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

We were level at 16;000'. ATC reported traffic at 10 o'clock 20 NM at 17;000'. We reported traffic (rj) in sight at 10 o'clock 7 NM. ATC cleared us to climb visually to FL230. I read back the clearance; put the new altitude in the window and told the captain; 'I wouldn't climb yet.' by now the crossing traffic aircraft was nearly across the nose. The captain turned off the autopilot and began the climb; and immediately we were given a TCAS RA. I repeated my advisory to the captain; he was already responding by descending out of the RA. When clear we resumed our climb to FL230 and continued to our destination. Human factors: I see the usefulness to ATC of the climb visually clearance; but in my opinion its an incident waiting to happen. Recommend simulator training for aircrews' as this clearance is infrequently given and I don't think many pilots know how far away from an aircraft you need to be to climb visually without triggering an RA.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier Crew was given a pilot discretion climb clearance from 16;000' to FL230 with 17;000' traffic in sight and although the First Officer cautioned against a climb they received a TCAS RA after the Captain started the climb.

Narrative: We were level at 16;000'. ATC reported traffic at 10 o'clock 20 NM at 17;000'. We reported traffic (RJ) in sight at 10 o'clock 7 NM. ATC cleared us to climb visually to FL230. I read back the clearance; put the new altitude in the window and told the Captain; 'I wouldn't climb yet.' By now the crossing traffic aircraft was nearly across the nose. The Captain turned off the autopilot and began the climb; and immediately we were given a TCAS RA. I repeated my advisory to the Captain; he was already responding by descending out of the RA. When clear we resumed our climb to FL230 and continued to our destination. Human Factors: I see the usefulness to ATC of the climb visually clearance; but in my opinion its an incident waiting to happen. Recommend simulator training for aircrews' as this clearance is infrequently given and I don't think many pilots know how far away from an aircraft you need to be to climb visually without triggering an RA.

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.

An air carrier crew was given a pilot discretion climb clearance from 16;000' to FL230 with 17;000' traffic in sight and although the first officer cautioned against a climb they received a TCAS RA after the captain started the climb.