B737 captain cleared to hold at brdey on the PINNG1 arrival to phx at 12;000 feet; receives a TCAS R...

Narrative:

We were cleared to descend on the PINNG1 RNAV arrival to 12;000 feet; slow to 210 knots and hold at the brdey intersection as published due to an inbound emergency to phx sky harbor. Approximately 1 minute after entering the hold on a heading of approximately 112 degrees we received a TA. This almost immediately became an RA. I had to climb approximately 1;500 feet and turn off course approximately 20 degrees to the right. While I was executing the escape maneuver I saw the dhc-6. My best guess is he came within 1 mile from and 200 feet below our aircraft while I was climbing and turning. To further complicate the matter phx approach had cleared two other aircraft to hold at the same intersection behind us; one at 13;000 feet and the other at 14;000 feet. If not for good weather; good equipment and a very quick and positive reaction by this crew this would have ended very poorly. The controller was notified by the first officer as we executed the response to the RA and basically said; sorry. I said a little more. Not only would it have not taken much for the dhc-6 to hit our flight but because of the close proximity to the other holding aircraft it could have easily resulted in us striking one of them.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain cleared to hold at BRDEY on the PINNG1 arrival to PHX at 12;000 feet; receives a TCAS RA and climbs 1;500 feet to avid a DHC6. It is not clear where the DHC6 came from but the Controller seems to take responsibility for the conflict.

Narrative: We were cleared to descend on the PINNG1 RNAV Arrival to 12;000 feet; slow to 210 knots and hold at the BRDEY Intersection as published due to an inbound emergency to PHX Sky Harbor. Approximately 1 minute after entering the hold on a heading of approximately 112 degrees we received a TA. This almost immediately became an RA. I had to climb approximately 1;500 feet and turn off course approximately 20 degrees to the right. While I was executing the escape maneuver I saw the DHC-6. My best guess is he came within 1 mile from and 200 feet below our aircraft while I was climbing and turning. To further complicate the matter PHX Approach had cleared two other aircraft to hold at the same intersection behind us; one at 13;000 feet and the other at 14;000 feet. If not for good weather; good equipment and a very quick and positive reaction by this crew this would have ended very poorly. The controller was notified by the First Officer as we executed the response to the RA and basically said; sorry. I said a little more. Not only would it have not taken much for the DHC-6 to hit our flight but because of the close proximity to the other holding aircraft it could have easily resulted in us striking one of them.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1277801
Time
Date	201507
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	PHX.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR PINNG1
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Twin Otter DHC-6
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 212 Flight Crew Type 4482
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude

B737 captain cleared to hold at brdey on the PINNG1 arrival to phx at 12;000 feet; receives a TCAS RA and climbs 1;500 feet to avid a DHC6. It is not clear where the DHC6 came from but the controller seems to take responsibility for the conflict.