Narrative:

The flight was an EMB170 with four crew members and 70 passengers on board. During the initial descent we were told to cross 20 miles north of the VOR at FL280. Center then advised us to stop our decent and to level off at FL290. We reset the altitude into the preselect and captured our newly assigned altitude of FL290. We had started to read the ATIS that had just come through our ACARS system to start setting up for our approach and noted that conditions were VFR and favorable with light winds and scattered ceilings. The seat belt sign was on at this time as it had been turned on during the initial descent from our cruising altitude of FL340. We were level at FL290 for barely two minutes when we received a resolution advisory (RA) from our TCAS system with command prompts to 'climb; climb...' we did not receive an initial traffic advisory (TA); 'traffic; traffic' on the intruding aircraft; only the RA commanding climb. The first officer who was flying the leg immediately followed the command prompts using the touch control steering (tcs) mode. At this time we saw a black T38 military fighter jet very close moving from our left side and low turning towards us. He passed below moving perpendicular to our flight path left to right and out of view. We contacted center and stated that we had received an RA and had to climb to avoid the oncoming traffic. Do to the high altitude and extreme closure rate during the maneuver we clicked off the autopilot and recovered once the command prompts stopped and received a 'clear of conflict' advisory and recaptured our assigned altitude of FL290. The center controller seemed confused and asked us what altitude we were at and did not seem to understand the severity of what had just happened. We restated that we had received an RA from the military aircraft that we were not told of and that we were level at FL290. We queried the controller about the traffic but never received a definitive answer as to why we weren't advised. Once we reactivated the autopilot and double checked our aircraft I immediately called back to the flight attendants using the call button. The 'a' flight attendant answered our call and I asked if everything was okay. They did not know what had happened and thought we had just hit light turbulence. She stated that a passenger who had been in the aft lavatory had cut himself and that she would call me back with more details. At this time we were handed off to approach and told to descend to 11;000 ft. We began our decent and asked approach to have medical services meet the aircraft at the gate as a precautionary measure. The 'a' flight attendant then called stating that two doctors on board were treating the injury and that the man was bleeding from a cut on his leg. I stated that we would be on the ground in ten minutes and would have emergency services meeting us at the gate. We expedited our decent only to have the 'a' flight attendant call us back again while passing through 15;000 ft. She said that the injury was a lot worse then thought and was not just a cut. I then called approach and asked if we were number one for the airport and to declare a medical emergency. The controller stated that we were number one for the field and cleared down to 2;000 ft. We gave the 10;000 ft call and dropped the landing gear to further expedite our decent onto the glideslope. We landed uneventfully on the runway getting off at the high speed taxiway and immediately pulled into our gate. We were met by emt's who came on board the aircraft to assume control. Later it was determined that the 75 year old man sustained an injury to his left leg while in the aft lavatory. The B flight attendant had advised the passenger before he entered the lavatory that the seat belt sign was on and that he should return to his seat. He then moved past her and into the lavatory. My crew did an exceptional job dealing with the events and I cannot praise them enough. What they accomplished in only 8 minutes was truly amazing.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB170 Flight Crew reports responding to a TCAS RA at FL290; caused by a T38. During the RA climb a passenger is injured.

Narrative: The flight was an EMB170 with four crew members and 70 passengers on board. During the initial descent we were told to cross 20 miles north of the VOR at FL280. Center then advised us to stop our decent and to level off at FL290. We reset the altitude into the preselect and captured our newly assigned altitude of FL290. We had started to read the ATIS that had just come through our ACARS system to start setting up for our approach and noted that conditions were VFR and favorable with light winds and scattered ceilings. The seat belt sign was on at this time as it had been turned on during the initial descent from our cruising altitude of FL340. We were level at FL290 for barely two minutes when we received a Resolution Advisory (RA) from our TCAS system with command prompts to 'Climb; climb...' We did not receive an initial traffic advisory (TA); 'traffic; traffic' on the intruding aircraft; only the RA commanding climb. The First Officer who was flying the leg immediately followed the command prompts using the Touch Control Steering (TCS) mode. At this time we saw a black T38 military fighter jet very close moving from our left side and low turning towards us. He passed below moving perpendicular to our flight path left to right and out of view. We contacted Center and stated that we had received an RA and had to climb to avoid the oncoming traffic. Do to the high altitude and extreme closure rate during the maneuver we clicked off the autopilot and recovered once the command prompts stopped and received a 'clear of conflict' advisory and recaptured our assigned altitude of FL290. The Center Controller seemed confused and asked us what altitude we were at and did not seem to understand the severity of what had just happened. We restated that we had received an RA from the military aircraft that we were not told of and that we were level at FL290. We queried the controller about the traffic but never received a definitive answer as to why we weren't advised. Once we reactivated the autopilot and double checked our aircraft I immediately called back to the Flight Attendants using the call button. The 'A' Flight Attendant answered our call and I asked if everything was okay. They did not know what had happened and thought we had just hit light turbulence. She stated that a passenger who had been in the aft lavatory had cut himself and that she would call me back with more details. At this time we were handed off to Approach and told to descend to 11;000 FT. We began our decent and asked Approach to have medical services meet the aircraft at the gate as a precautionary measure. The 'A' Flight Attendant then called stating that two doctors on board were treating the injury and that the man was bleeding from a cut on his leg. I stated that we would be on the ground in ten minutes and would have emergency services meeting us at the gate. We expedited our decent only to have the 'A' Flight Attendant call us back again while passing through 15;000 FT. She said that the injury was a lot worse then thought and was not just a cut. I then called Approach and asked if we were number one for the airport and to declare a medical emergency. The Controller stated that we were number one for the field and cleared down to 2;000 FT. We gave the 10;000 FT call and dropped the landing gear to further expedite our decent onto the glideslope. We landed uneventfully on the runway getting off at the high speed taxiway and immediately pulled into our gate. We were met by EMT's who came on board the aircraft to assume control. Later it was determined that the 75 year old man sustained an injury to his left leg while in the aft lavatory. The B Flight Attendant had advised the passenger before he entered the lavatory that the seat belt sign was on and that he should return to his seat. He then moved past her and into the lavatory. My crew did an exceptional job dealing with the events and I cannot praise them enough. What they accomplished in only 8 minutes was truly amazing.

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.