An air carrier crew took evasive action responding to a TCAS RA at FL340 eastbound near omeka inters...

Narrative:

We asked gander radio for climb to FL370 and were told to standby. Then we heard another air carrier give a position report at omeka indicating they were opposite direction of our route at FL340. They requested a climb to FL360 and were told to standby. We had begun looking for the opposite direction aircraft on TCAS. A few minutes later they appeared on our displays about 40 miles. We were offset 1 mile right. As they approached approximately 20 miles we began to try to get a visual. At 15 miles we noticed their altitude increasing and I asked my flying first officer if he was ready to disconnect the autopilot and respond to a RA. He acknowledge yes. Then we got a TA followed by a RA and we began a climb in response to the RA. At the same time that we got a visual on the aircraft; we noticed him returning to FL340. When he was level we returned to FL350 and offset 1 mile. I estimate that aircraft climbed to FL346 before reversing and we climbed a few hundred feet before returning to FL350. As the aircraft passed he called us on VHF 123.45 and stated that gander gave them a climb clearance and then after they began the climb they told him to return to FL340 for traffic ahead. We contacted gander radio and told them that we had to respond to an RA from the other aircraft. Later ATC and dispatch ask us for more details to relay to anchorage ATC. We explained we responded to the RA and would have to file a report.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier crew took evasive action responding to a TCAS RA at FL340 eastbound near OMEKA Intersection after Gander erroneously issued a climb clearance to a westbound aircraft.

Narrative: We asked Gander Radio for climb to FL370 and were told to standby. Then we heard another air carrier give a position report at OMEKA indicating they were opposite direction of our route at FL340. They requested a climb to FL360 and were told to standby. We had begun looking for the opposite direction aircraft on TCAS. A few minutes later they appeared on our displays about 40 miles. We were offset 1 mile right. As they approached approximately 20 miles we began to try to get a visual. At 15 miles we noticed their altitude increasing and I asked my flying First Officer if he was ready to disconnect the autopilot and respond to a RA. He acknowledge yes. Then we got a TA followed by a RA and we began a climb in response to the RA. At the same time that we got a visual on the aircraft; we noticed him returning to FL340. When he was level we returned to FL350 and offset 1 mile. I estimate that aircraft climbed to FL346 before reversing and we climbed a few hundred feet before returning to FL350. As the aircraft passed he called us on VHF 123.45 and stated that Gander gave them a climb clearance and then after they began the climb they told him to return to FL340 for traffic ahead. We contacted Gander Radio and told them that we had to respond to an RA from the other aircraft. Later ATC and Dispatch ask us for more details to relay to Anchorage ATC. We explained we responded to the RA and would have to file a report.

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	1091267
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	CZQX.ARTCC
State Reference	NF
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 23352 Flight Crew Type 8417
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 25400 Flight Crew Type 7100
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

An air carrier crew took evasive action responding to a TCAS RA at FL340 eastbound near omeka intersection after gander erroneously issued a climb clearance to a westbound aircraft.