Sequence of events
On 1 November 2004, a Boeing Company B767-336 (767) aircraft,
registered VH-ZXC, was cleared for departure via the Sydney RWY 34R
MARUB THREE standard instrument departure (SID) with a clearance
limit of 5,000 ft. A military Lockheed Georgia Company C-130J
(C130) aircraft was inbound to Richmond, NSW, from Nadi, Fiji, and
had been cleared to descend to 6,000 ft and was tracking overhead
Sydney for Richmond. As the aircraft approached each other about 5
NM east of Sydney, an infringement of the separation standard
occurred.
The copilot of the 767 was the handling pilot for the sector and
was manually flying the aircraft while tracking via the SID. After
takeoff, and when passing 1,500 ft, the copilot called for climb
thrust to be set, and for the vertical navigation mode to be
selected on the Mode Control Panel (MCP) of the aircraft's
Autopilot Flight Director System. The pilot in command said that he
selected climb thrust on the MCP, but did not recall seeing climb
thrust annunciated. The copilot then called for the lateral
navigation mode to be selected on the MCP and at 3,000 ft the
aircraft began to reduce the rate of climb.
Passing through 4,000 ft, with the flaps fully retracted, the
copilot noticed that climb thrust was not annunciated and advised
the pilot in command that the Command Airspeed Bug was not in the
correct position. The pilot in command reached over and reselected
climb thrust and noted correct climb thrust annunciation. As the
aircraft was passing through 4,600 ft and climbing at about 3,500
ft/min, the copilot engaged the autopilot. The pilot in command
told the copilot to "nose it over" but the aircraft climbed to
5,350 ft before descending back to the assigned level of 5,000
ft.
The 767's traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS)
activated a resolution advisory (RA) for the crew to "monitor
vertical speed". The pilot in command of the 767 saw the C130
during the period of the TCAS activation.
The crew of the C130 were alerted to the proximity of the 767 by
the aircraft's TCAS display, when it was at 4 NM in the 10 o'clock
position indicating 700 ft below their level of 6,000 ft. They then
saw the 767 and their TCAS activated a RA advising them to climb,
which they acted upon. At 6,400 ft, the TCAS RA instructed the crew
of the C130 to maintain altitude. After the 767 was observed to
pass below the C130, the crew said that they notified air traffic
control of the infringement of separation standards. The air
traffic controller then advised the crew to descend back to 6,000
ft because the aircraft were no longer in conflict.
Recorded radar data indicated that lateral separation between
the aircraft reduced to 2.6 NM with a vertical separation of 600
ft. The required radar separation standard was 3 NM laterally or
1,000 ft vertically.