A crj-200 first officer reported experiencing an near midair collision on approach to abe when VFR l...

Narrative:

We were on approach to runway 6 in abe. Tower had cleared us to land and we were configuring with the flaps at 20 degrees in VMC conditions. I was about to call for gear down when on the mfd a traffic target appeared inside of 2.5 miles and within a few hundred feet of our altitude and appeared to becoming straight at us. With terrain to our right as well as a GA airport with traffic around I began to execute a left turn to break off the approach; we also simultaneously received a traffic advisory from ATC as well as the TCAS; which was followed immediately by an RA with a command to descend. Unfortunately the conflicting traffic also began to descend; at which time I increased the descent until we cleared the conflict. We proceeded to climb back up and reenter the approach. Separation was less than 200 ft. Abe tower expressed their frustration and said they were not talking with the traffic and that it was suspected that he 'popped up' from the GA airport unexpectedly.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ-200 First Officer reported experiencing an NMAC on approach to ABE when VFR light aircraft traffic popped up without checking in with ATC.

Narrative: We were on approach to Runway 6 in ABE. Tower had cleared us to land and we were configuring with the flaps at 20 degrees in VMC conditions. I was about to call for gear down when on the MFD a traffic target appeared inside of 2.5 miles and within a few hundred feet of our altitude and appeared to becoming straight at us. With terrain to our right as well as a GA airport with traffic around I began to execute a left turn to break off the approach; we also simultaneously received a traffic advisory from ATC as well as the TCAS; which was followed immediately by an RA with a command to descend. Unfortunately the conflicting traffic also began to descend; at which time I increased the descent until we cleared the conflict. We proceeded to climb back up and reenter the approach. Separation was less than 200 FT. ABE Tower expressed their frustration and said they were not talking with the traffic and that it was suspected that he 'popped up' from the GA airport unexpectedly.

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	937612
Time
Date	201103
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ABE.Airport
State Reference	PA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC

A crj-200 first officer reported experiencing an near midair collision on approach to abe when VFR light aircraft traffic popped up without checking in with ATC.