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If TCAS tells you one thing and ATC tells you something contrary, what do you do?
Where an ATC avoiding instruction conflicts with a TCAS RA, flight crews have sometimes responded to the ATC instruction and have not correctly followed the RA. It must be remembered that, for aircraft in close proximity, the TCAS II knowledge of the vertical situation is much better than that of ATC. Every second, TCAS II assesses if there is a risk of collision.It immediately communicates the necessary avoidance manoeuvre to the flight crew by an aural alert and the RA display. Furthermore, if both aircraft are operating TCAS II, the RAs are coordinated. The overriding action must be to “Follow the RA” and then,if required, to report the RA to ATCas soon as possible.
Thank you. If I remember correctly in the Uberlingen collision, both aircraft crew were given RA's but the TU-154 crew acted opposite to what TCAS said. Also, two years later the controller at the time was stabbed to death by a relative of the killed pax.