Narrative:

We departed runway 25L assigned the silow SID; climbing to 7000. I overheard ATC pointing out a flight of two to the flight ahead of us at 8500. We were cleared to FL210 and direct thomm intersection while still flying straight out (westbound); prior to reaching the turn point. ATC then described a flight of two [unnamed] aircraft flying westbound at 8500 feet. As we turned; TCAS picked up a target at about 11 O'clock; 1700 feet above us. We first got an adjust vertical speed; and then descend RA commands. Pilot flying turned off autopilot and responded. We were in a turn to the right; about 15 degree bank; 250 KIAS. I knew there were two planes; but I thought they were together; or close. We passed well clear of the target; and I was speaking on the radio to departure; when I saw; very close at 12 o'clock; a high wing single engine aircraft. I guess I never even unkeyed the mike and went from communicating to ATC to exhorting the pilot flying to turn tighter or more aggressively to the right to miss the aircraft.the flight of two planes was very confusing. I do not know even now if both had transponders or just the lead. I think TCAS was picking up the lead aircraft and giving us commands reference it; but maybe it was the second plane all the time or maybe it changed. I only remember seeing the lead aircraft in amber on the screen; never the second one; the trailer; but by then I was scanning outside. Confusion over where the second plane was caused this near miss. ATC told us about them. We spotted the lead via TCAS on our screen; and visually; with plenty of time to avoid it; which we did. The first officer was doing an excellent job flying the plane by the book; while transitioning to listening to three different sources of instructions; ATC; TCAS; and then me.I believe flights of two; or more; should be required to have a standard configuration where they are close enough to be treated as one target. If a flight of two is in succession; with a mile or more between them; they should be treated as two separate targets. If cleared into class B; a tiny light aircraft is harder to see than an airliner or large plane. Normal IFR separation should be given just like at phx when departing west; climbers are held to 7000; while arrivals from the west are held up to 8000 until past. I would have preferred to have been leveled off at 7000 until they cleared. VFR corridors should be established to avoid busy IFR SID's and STAR's.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier departure from PHX suffered a close encounter with a flight of two light aircraft; avoiding the first by following TCAS RA commands and the second only by virtue of visual sighting straight ahead.

Narrative: We departed Runway 25L assigned the Silow SID; climbing to 7000. I overheard ATC pointing out a flight of two to the flight ahead of us at 8500. We were cleared to FL210 and direct THOMM Intersection while still flying straight out (westbound); prior to reaching the turn point. ATC then described a flight of two [unnamed] aircraft flying westbound at 8500 feet. As we turned; TCAS picked up a target at about 11 O'clock; 1700 feet above us. We first got an adjust vertical speed; and then descend RA commands. Pilot flying turned off autopilot and responded. We were in a turn to the right; about 15 degree bank; 250 KIAS. I knew there were two planes; but I thought they were together; or close. We passed well clear of the target; and I was speaking on the radio to Departure; when I saw; very close at 12 o'clock; a high wing single engine aircraft. I guess I never even unkeyed the mike and went from communicating to ATC to exhorting the pilot flying to turn tighter or more aggressively to the right to miss the aircraft.The flight of two planes was very confusing. I do not know even now if both had transponders or just the lead. I think TCAS was picking up the lead aircraft and giving us commands reference it; but maybe it was the second plane all the time or maybe it changed. I only remember seeing the lead aircraft in amber on the screen; never the second one; the trailer; but by then I was scanning outside. Confusion over where the second plane was caused this near miss. ATC told us about them. We spotted the lead via TCAS on our screen; and visually; with plenty of time to avoid it; which we did. The First Officer was doing an excellent job flying the plane by the book; while transitioning to listening to three different sources of instructions; ATC; TCAS; and then me.I believe flights of two; or more; should be required to have a standard configuration where they are close enough to be treated as one target. If a flight of two is in succession; with a mile or more between them; they should be treated as two separate targets. If cleared into Class B; a tiny light aircraft is harder to see than an airliner or large plane. Normal IFR separation should be given just like at PHX when departing west; climbers are held to 7000; while arrivals from the west are held up to 8000 until past. I would have preferred to have been leveled off at 7000 until they cleared. VFR corridors should be established to avoid busy IFR SID's and STAR's.

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.