Q400
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Conflict Airborne Conflict
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Aircraft
On arrival into ANC; cleared to 3;000 feet. Descending through 3;500; First Officer (FO) and I both notice TCAS traffic at 2;500 inside 10 miles opposite direction. FO asked ATC about the traffic and the controller casually replied that he was 5 miles and 2;500 feet. Now inside 5 miles; still converging and indicating a climb as we level at 3;000 feet. As the traffic turned yellow on the TCAS; we grew more alarmed as it seemed to be closing rapidly. As the TCAS alerted 'TRAFFIC TRAFFIC' I disconnected the autopilot and pondered my best escape route. It turned red and indicated -300 and still climbing and I initiated a right climbing turn. Then TCAS said 'MONITOR VERTICAL SPEED.' FO told ATC we were responding to a TCAS RA. We climbed to approximately 4;000 feet before the traffic was behind us and the alert returned to yellow. We descended back to 3;000 feet on ATC assigned heading. We were IMC the entire time and never had the traffic in sight visually.More disturbing than the actual traffic proximity was the failure of all preventive measures. While the TCAS did alert the traffic and ultimately give an RA; it seemed slow to do so. Both FO and I felt that if we had waited for the RA to take action; it would have been too late.Not only did ATC fail to point out the traffic; when queried; seemed overly casual and unconcerned. They didn't seem to notice that we were closing in on each other. Once on the ground; I called the TRACON and spoke with the supervisor on duty about the incident.The only thing keeping all the Swiss cheese holes from aligning was crew observation and preemptive action. I saw it; too; but my FO pointed it out early on; closely monitored its proximity; and queried ATC without being prompted to do so. I took action without RA instructions because it seemed more than prudent to do so.
Q400 Captain on arrival into ANC reported taking evasive action to avoid an airborne conflict; stating the TCAS seemed slow to issue an RA. and ATC seemed less than concerned.