CL65 flight crew reports a near midair collision 40 miles northeast of ric at 9;000 ft with an ultra...

Attributes
ACN	969187
Time
Date	201109
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	PCT.TRACON
State Reference	VA
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet CL65 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Ultralight
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 103
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 1700 Flight Crew Type 470
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 210 Flight Crew Total 6300 Flight Crew Type 5000
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 200 Vertical 0

Narrative:

ATC cleared us direct ric while we were a little north of sby VOR; resulting in about a 245 course to the ric VORTAC. We maintained this course as we started our descent. Shortly after checking on with potomac approach; we were approximately 35-40 nautical miles northeast of ric and about to pass through 9;000 ft MSL when; upon emerging from a cloud; I looked up and saw an ultralight vehicle directly in front of us on the same course and altitude. I called out the aircraft to my captain. He disengaged the autopilot and immediately initiated a break to the left to create some lateral separation. We passed off to the ultralight's left side. Our separation was zero vertical and less than 200 ft lateral. The entire event; from sighting to evasive action and passing; took no more than 5 seconds. We immediately reported the event to potomac approach; and they stated they were not showing anything in our area. The captain and I had each noted there was no TCAS target; RA or TA; either. We accomplished an uneventful landing; and upon clearing the runway; ground communicated a phone number to us for potomac approach; stating that they wanted additional information about the event. At the conclusion of the shutdown checklist; my captain called potomac approach and discussed what happened. The weather at the time was VFR; 10 miles visibility; with scattered clouds building in the area to approximately 11;000 ft MSL. The build-ups were closely gathered and I'm not sure if the ultralight aircraft was maintaining proper VFR cloud clearance requirements for class east airspace.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CL65 flight crew reports a NMAC 40 miles northeast of RIC at 9;000 FT with an ultralight aircraft. Evasive action was taken to avoid the aircraft laterally by 200 FT.

Narrative: ATC cleared us direct RIC while we were a little north of SBY VOR; resulting in about a 245 course to the RIC VORTAC. We maintained this course as we started our descent. Shortly after checking on with Potomac Approach; we were approximately 35-40 nautical miles northeast of RIC and about to pass through 9;000 FT MSL when; upon emerging from a cloud; I looked up and saw an ultralight vehicle directly in front of us on the same course and altitude. I called out the aircraft to my Captain. He disengaged the autopilot and immediately initiated a break to the left to create some lateral separation. We passed off to the ultralight's left side. Our separation was zero vertical and less than 200 FT lateral. The entire event; from sighting to evasive action and passing; took no more than 5 seconds. We immediately reported the event to Potomac Approach; and they stated they were not showing anything in our area. The Captain and I had each noted there was no TCAS target; RA or TA; either. We accomplished an uneventful landing; and upon clearing the runway; ground communicated a phone number to us for Potomac Approach; stating that they wanted additional information about the event. At the conclusion of the Shutdown Checklist; my Captain called Potomac Approach and discussed what happened. The weather at the time was VFR; 10 miles visibility; with scattered clouds building in the area to approximately 11;000 FT MSL. The build-ups were closely gathered and I'm not sure if the ultralight aircraft was maintaining proper VFR cloud clearance requirements for class E airspace.

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.

CL65 flight crew reports a near midair collision 40 miles northeast of ric at 9;000 ft with an ultralight aircraft. Evasive action was taken to avoid the aircraft laterally by 200 ft.