Allegiant A320 Narrowly Avoids Mid-Air Collision, Injures Flight Attendant

Looks like the Gulfstream turned toward the A320 at the last second, probably setting off the ACAS.

I’m curious… who was on that Gulfstream, and did they notice anything, and why did they turn?

If you look at the descent rate of the flight it is a 1664 fpm in a rather abrupt change, so while the pilot did not turn to avoid, he did descent rather quickly and suddenly.

This is exactly how bad information makes it across the internet. @lucky. At this point of the investigation … How do you know why the pilots made any kind of maneuver. Was it a traffic alert with a reaction after visual contact or a TCAS RA. Now I’m not going to fly someone else’s airplane but I’ve had several RAs throughout my career and never do they require any harsh reactions . In addition … flight radar 24 is really bad for giving technical explanations as to how an airplane maneuvered.

This blog run by what is the best points and miles blogger turns into CNN when it goes off topic. Let’s wait to see what the NTSB says.

@ SMR -- I'm only reporting what the FAA's statement claims. Here's the statement:
"Allegiant Air Flight 485, an Airbus A320, took evasive action on Sunday, July 23, after the pilot received an automated alert about another aircraft at the same altitude. An air traffic controller in the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center had instructed Flight 485 to turn eastbound at an altitude of 23,000 feet when it crossed in front of a northbound Gulfstream business jet. The pilot of the Gulfstream also took evasive action after receiving a similar alert. Flight 485 returned to Fort Lauderdale International Airport, where a flight attendant was treated for injuries."

So to answer your questions:
"How do you know why the pilots made any kind of maneuver" -- because the FAA said so
"Was it a traffic alert with a reaction after visual contact or a TCAS RA" -- according to the FAA, it was a TCAS RA

If you think I got any details wrong, please by all means let me know, as I'm always looking to learn. 🙂

eTCAS RA's never involve a turn. They also do not require pilots to push the nose up or down at rates that could hurt people.

@lucky. There are two levels of TCAS automated alerts.
1. Traffic, Traffic! is usually the first aural alert.
2. An RA or Resolution Advisory may follow and is when you get a climb or descent command. In an Airbus A320 your vertical speed indicator gets a green band in which you must establish. It is safe to say you have a few seconds to get into that band, it's not an instant snap up or down but not much decision making is required. click off autopilot and pitch into the green band. It is supposed to give you enough time to react.

I do not see anything in the FAA report stating that pilots reacted to an RA. Not saying they did not, but there are other scenarios possible. We do not know exactly how close this was...exactly what the flight crew saw to react more abrasively then a normal RA and I am just saying Flight Radar 24 is better to get a general idea of vertical and horizontal flights paths and not exact data that can help in assessing how pilots reacted to a specific scenario.

Always listen to TCAS.

Do the words Allegiant and Medically Trained even go together?

Some human error along the chain of events which is preventable by automation.

TCAS 2024 for President.

But there is also an expedite decent/climb command if their initial decent/climb isn’t sufficient to clear the traffic.

I can assure you automation used on aircraft and ATC is incredibly flawed. Only reason we don't have disaster very often is humans.

You can also get secondary RAs , especially in congested airspace.

Definitely listen and obey TCAS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_%C3%9Cberlingen_mid-air_collision

FAA Commercial Helicopter pilot here. When TCAS says "traffic" we move laterally and downward. Odds are that keeps us away and away from that traffic.

Why would Miami direct them to turn east out into the Atlantic when heading to Lexington? Did the controller confuse east/west and turn them into path of the Gulfstream?

I'd give Lucky more credit than CNN, but the problem with any commentary/article on ATC matters is that it's exceptionally hard to judge... whether you're an outsider or an insider.

For instance, on our last time around we were discussing a double UA go-around at SFO. Everybody and their moms... whether it was on Ben's article, on the YouTube breakdown... or even in ATC forums... concluded that "that controller" was incompetent/should be fired/should have to pay for the fuel. Literally hundreds of comments critiquing "that controller".

Only a few people (self included) recognized that it was actually two different controllers... which could lend explanation to why it happened the way it did.

You might as well just give up on this line of commentary (that you seem to share whenever Aviation blunders are discussed). What you're after won't be happening in our lifetime. For better or worse.

You seem to think we should replace 10s of thousands of people and put them out on the streets to avert some hypothetical future disaster. When considering that automation still requires trial and error that may lead to disaster, your ideology may actually be much more harmful than helpful.

Why are you such a rude person? I think we need an alert to never read your comments.

Descend! Descend!
Descend now ! Descend now !
Climb ! Climb !
Climb now ! Climb now !