Flight crew of B727 has TCASII TA, then RA. They respond and descend until sighting the traffic.

Attributes
ACN	399560
Time
Date	199804
Day	Mon
Local Time Of Day	0601 To 1200
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : aex
State Reference	LA
Altitude	msl bound lower : 27500 msl bound upper : 28000
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	artcc : zhu tower : fra
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	B727 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	cruise other
Route In Use	enroute other
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	cruise other
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : atp
ASRS Report	399560
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : instrument pilot : commercial
Events
Anomaly	altitude deviation : excursion from assigned altitude other anomaly other
Independent Detector	aircraft equipment other aircraft equipment : unspecified other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	flight crew : returned to intended course or assigned course flight crew : took evasive action
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Air Traffic Incident	other

Narrative:

Frequency: 132.7. Altitude: FL280. ATC facility: houston. Location: aex 119 degree radial, 48 DME. At cruise, received a TA followed by a descend RA. Traffic not visually sighted until after the RA. ATC advised of RA and descent. Returned to assigned altitude and ATC again advised. Also reiterated the reason for the descent was a TCASII RA. ATC said no problem, TCASII questionnaire filled out and submitted.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: FLC OF B727 HAS TCASII TA, THEN RA. THEY RESPOND AND DSND UNTIL SIGHTING THE TFC.

Narrative: FREQ: 132.7. ALT: FL280. ATC FACILITY: HOUSTON. LOCATION: AEX 119 DEG RADIAL, 48 DME. AT CRUISE, RECEIVED A TA FOLLOWED BY A DSND RA. TFC NOT VISUALLY SIGHTED UNTIL AFTER THE RA. ATC ADVISED OF RA AND DSCNT. RETURNED TO ASSIGNED ALT AND ATC AGAIN ADVISED. ALSO REITERATED THE REASON FOR THE DSCNT WAS A TCASII RA. ATC SAID NO PROB, TCASII QUESTIONNAIRE FILLED OUT AND SUBMITTED.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.