Narrative:

While being vectored for a visual approach to henderson airport; vegas approach advised of VFR traffic at the pilot's 2 o'clock position. VFR aircraft appeared to be scud running below the cloud deck. Our aircraft was constantly in and out of IMC. Pilot advised ATC that we were IMC and unable to find traffic. Pilot of jetprop continued his descent towards hnd. Vegas approach descended us to 6;000 ft; same altitude as the jetprop. With the traffic page brought up on 2 mile scale; it appeared to us as if we were descending right into the traffic in IMC. As we ducked out of a cloud at 6;300 ft we noticed what we thought might be the aircraft ahead; and decided to take evasive action. We started a full power climb 15 degrees nose up and advised vegas approach we were declaring an emergency for safety. We felt the controller could have done a better job; of having heard us IMC of asking the jetprop if he was maintaining VFR; which we found to be doubtful. The controller also; should have not; descended us knowing there was an aircraft there at the same altitude that we ere unable to maintain visual contact with or acquire visually.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: IFR Citation landing HND; vectored by L30 TRACON; experienced conflict at 6300 with issued VFR traffic; executed emergency climb; Reporter claiming ATC's decision to issue decent clearance into known traffic was a safety issue.

Narrative: While being vectored for a visual approach to Henderson Airport; Vegas Approach advised of VFR traffic at the pilot's 2 o'clock position. VFR aircraft appeared to be scud running below the cloud deck. Our aircraft was constantly in and out of IMC. Pilot advised ATC that we were IMC and unable to find traffic. Pilot of jetprop continued his descent towards HND. Vegas Approach descended us to 6;000 FT; same altitude as the jetprop. With the Traffic Page brought up on 2 mile scale; it appeared to us as if we were descending right into the traffic in IMC. As we ducked out of a cloud at 6;300 FT we noticed what we thought might be the aircraft ahead; and decided to take evasive action. We started a full power climb 15 degrees nose up and advised Vegas Approach we were declaring an emergency for safety. We felt the Controller could have done a better job; of having heard us IMC of asking the jetprop if he was maintaining VFR; which we found to be doubtful. The Controller also; should have not; descended us knowing there was an aircraft there at the same altitude that we ere unable to maintain visual contact with or acquire visually.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.