Air carrier flight crew experiences a near midair collision with a C172 during a visual approach to ...

Narrative:

We were being vectored to land on runway 11L tus and on an extended left base with a visual on the runway. We were at 6;000 ft MSL and abeam the FAF when we were given a clearance for the visual approach to rwy 11L. We were turning to final in a left turn; descending; and configuring to land; when I spotted traffic low a 10 o'clock. The traffic appeared to be climbing from below; opposite direction and turning away slightly. I initially thought it was a corporate jet; but a second or so later I realized that it was a C-172 about 300-400 ft horizontal and opposite direction to us as we descended through it's altitude of about 4;000 ft MSL. We had an MEL for our TCAS so it was inoperative. Earlier; I had heard approach query GA traffic if they had the [airliner] at 5;000 ft; but we were given no traffic advisories or warned of any in the area. That was disconcerting; and I keyed the mike and said 'cessna traffic opposite direction.' but; it was then past us. We were handed over to tower and cleared to land. I asked tower if the cessna was under someone's control and they said; 'yes; TRACON.' taxiing back in; tower said that TRACON had told them that the cessna had us insight. But; tower also said that they got an 'alert' for the event. Expect the unexpected; especially without TCAS.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier flight crew experiences a NMAC with a C172 during a visual approach to Runway 11L at TUS. The traffic was not reported to the flight crew by ATC and the TCAS was MEL'ed; so no evasive action was taken by the crew.

Narrative: We were being vectored to land on Runway 11L TUS and on an extended left base with a visual on the runway. We were at 6;000 FT MSL and abeam the FAF when we were given a clearance for the visual approach to Rwy 11L. We were turning to final in a left turn; descending; and configuring to land; when I spotted traffic low a 10 o'clock. The traffic appeared to be climbing from below; opposite direction and turning away slightly. I initially thought it was a corporate jet; but a second or so later I realized that it was a C-172 about 300-400 FT horizontal and opposite direction to us as we descended through it's altitude of about 4;000 FT MSL. We had an MEL for our TCAS so it was inoperative. Earlier; I had heard approach query GA traffic if they had the [airliner] at 5;000 FT; but we were given no traffic advisories or warned of any in the area. That was disconcerting; and I keyed the mike and said 'Cessna traffic opposite direction.' But; it was then past us. We were handed over to Tower and cleared to land. I asked Tower if the Cessna was under someone's control and they said; 'Yes; TRACON.' Taxiing back in; Tower said that TRACON had told them that the Cessna had us insight. But; Tower also said that they got an 'alert' for the event. Expect the unexpected; especially without TCAS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1066638
Time
Date	201302
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	TUS.TRACON
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 14600
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 400 Vertical 0

Air carrier flight crew experiences a near midair collision with a C172 during a visual approach to runway 11L at tus. The traffic was not reported to the flight crew by ATC and the TCAS was MEL'ed; so no evasive action was taken by the crew.