Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 179; Flight Crew Total 2515
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Procedure; Airspace Structure; Human Factors
We received a TCAS RA at roughly 1000 ft. on the visual approach to Runway 27 at SAN. The traffic alert started and I noticed a target off to my 10 o clock at 300 ft. low. Almost immediately after the TA we received a Resolution Advisory. The RA instructed us to 'climb; climb'. This RA was followed by another instruction to 'increase climb; increase climb'. We initiated the climb maneuver immediately after the first instruction and increased our climb after the second instruction. Once we were clear of the conflict we initiated a go-around maneuver. At the point Lindbergh Tower told us to turn left to approximately 220 and climb to 2;500 ft. Tower said she had both us and the conflict traffic in sight and it was no factor. Tower said it was a Navy T-34 landing at North Island NAS. We were vectored back around to another visual approach. After landing the Captain called the Tower to discuss what happened. On speaker phone; we were told this is a known issue and there are multiple traffic alerts due to the traffic pattern flown at North Island. We were told the T-34 wasn't actually a factor; but since it does not have a proper transponder to give our transponder conflict information; our transponder errors on the side of caution and gives us an RA. We were told the traffic pattern at North Island has the aircraft pointed directly at us on our short final while they are on a base turn. So the transponder thinks they are headed directly at us and doesn't realize they will be turning final at North Island before there is a mid-air. I feel this is something we should be advised about. It is not very often that we receive secondary advisories on a TCAS RA. At the time I felt we were very close to a mid-air and it was unsettling to me. If this is in fact all true and the normal procedure; then we should be notified with an ATC traffic advisory or a staggered approach to avoid this from happening.
B737 First Officer reported experiencing a TCAS Resolution Advisory which resulted in a Go-Around from his approach to Runway 27 at San Diego.