Originally Posted by
Locked door
I'll put this in simple words. Never ever fail to follow a TCAS RA. I don't want to share the sky with you if you don't understand this. Even if you "think" you are visual with the conflicting traffic.
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TCAS is the last, the final barrier between you and a mid air. If you receive an RA, EVERY OTHER DEFENCE AGAINST A MID AIR COLLISION HAS FAILED and you are in the last chance saloon.
I agree with the basic sentiment, but never say "never".
I've had three TCAS RAs.
1. On descent into the circuit of an uncontrolled aerodrome with a relatively high rate of descent (~1500 fpm) we got a CLIMB RA triggered by an aircraft that was taking off. We were clearly going to pass behind it and level off at least 1000' above it. We followed the RA for all of the good reasons mentioned already in this thread.
2. At 200 feet on short final we received a DESCEND RA. Nope, not going to follow that one.
3. In the flare (same approach as number 2. above) again we received a DESCEND RA. Needless to say, we didn't follow that one either.
Number 2 and 3 were triggered by an aircraft on the ground with its transponder on and it turned out that our RADALT was sending bad info to our TCAS so the usual low level inhibits weren't active.
So yes, always follow the RA, except for when the system is obviously broken.