B757 flight crew on visual approach to runway 28L is told to go around by tower after they pass an a...

Narrative:

We were cleared for the tip toe visual to 28L outside the marker and told that there was an air carrier following us. We were told to maintain 170 kts to the marker which we did. Inside the marker the tower stated something about the air carrier was now in front of us. We never saw this aircraft and were never told to maintain visual separation. At about 1500 ft AGL we were told to 'go around; fly heading 280 and maintain 3;000 feet'. As the co-pilot initiated the go around we received a right/a which told us to descend. We followed the RA and informed the tower which told us again to climb to 3;000 and fly heading 280. Not being able to see the other aircraft we continued to follow the RA until it informed us we were clear of conflict. The conflicting instructions from the tower; the RA and not knowing where this other aircraft was located put us in what I would consider an unstable situation; especially when the weather was as good as it was and we each were assigned different runways and were lined up with those runways. In my opinion; there was no reason we should have been instructed to go around when the other aircraft was above us; potentially driving us into his path. This situation was created solely by the sfo tower and could have been easily averted if they had just let each aircraft proceed to their assigned runway. Upon talking with a controller (not a supervisor); the story that the controllers had concocted was that the air carrier was always ahead of us and that we were told to go around after we passed them. This is false. We were never issued the air carrier as traffic and never had that aircraft in sight. I hope the company and alpa safety will follow up with the sfo tower and get this nonsense about VFR traffic following straightened out. The situation they put us in was unacceptable and unsafe.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 flight crew on visual approach to Runway 28L is told to go around by tower after they pass an aircraft they were told to follow landing Runway 28R. The crew never acknowledged the clearance to follow and never saw the other aircraft. A TCAS RA is generated as the go around commences.

Narrative: We were cleared for the Tip Toe visual to 28L outside the marker and told that there was an Air Carrier following us. We were told to maintain 170 kts to the marker which we did. Inside the marker the tower stated something about the Air Carrier was now in front of us. We never saw this aircraft and were never told to maintain visual separation. At about 1500 ft AGL we were told to 'go around; fly heading 280 and maintain 3;000 feet'. As the co-pilot initiated the go around we received a R/A which told us to descend. We followed the RA and informed the tower which told us again to climb to 3;000 and fly heading 280. Not being able to see the other aircraft we continued to follow the RA until it informed us we were clear of conflict. The conflicting instructions from the tower; the RA and not knowing where this other aircraft was located put us in what I would consider an unstable situation; especially when the weather was as good as it was and we each were assigned different runways and were lined up with those runways. In my opinion; there was NO REASON we should have been instructed to go around when the other aircraft was above us; potentially driving us into his path. This situation was created SOLELY by the SFO tower and could have been easily averted if they had just let each aircraft proceed to their assigned runway. Upon talking with a controller (NOT a supervisor); the story that the controllers had concocted was that the Air Carrier was ALWAYS ahead of us and that we were told to go around after we passed them. This is false. We were never issued the Air Carrier as traffic and never had that aircraft in sight. I hope the company and ALPA safety will follow up with the SFO tower and get this nonsense about VFR traffic following straightened out. The situation they put us in was unacceptable and unsafe.

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.

Attributes
ACN	853123
Time
Date	200909
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	SFO.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 26000 Flight Crew Type 2500
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 10200 Flight Crew Type 1500
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance

B757 flight crew on visual approach to runway 28L is told to go around by tower after they pass an aircraft they were told to follow landing runway 28R. The crew never acknowledged the clearance to follow and never saw the other aircraft. A TCAS RA is generated as the go around commences.