SMT ENTERS 'HOT' MOA WHILE DEVIATING WX.

Date: 1994-08 · Aircraft: Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence|other-airspace-violation-entry-or-exit

Synopsis

SMT ENTERS 'HOT' MOA WHILE DEVIATING WX.

Narrative

I WAS ON AN IFR FLT PLAN FROM ELP TO FZZ VIA V198 SSO V94 TOTEC V16 PXR. I HAD RECEIVED A WX BRIEFING BY PHONE IN EL PASO AND WAS TOLD THE ONLY LCL TSTM CALL WAS E OF DEMING VORTAC AND MOVING E. I DEPARTED AND FOUND VERY THREATENING TSTMS NEAR COLUMBUS VORTAC TO THE NW; N; AND NE. I REQUESTED A DEV TO THE SW WHICH WAS GRANTED. THE TSTMS STARTED TO APPEAR TO THE W WITH LIGHTNING AND RAINSHOWERS. THE CTLR ASKED ME TO TURN N TO AVOID THE TOMBSTONE B MOA WHICH WAS APPARENTLY 'HOT' -- I DECLINED ON ACCOUNT OF STRONG TSTMS AND TOLD THE CTLR I WAS WILLING TO MAKE A 180 DEG TURN AND RETURN TO ELP. HE THEN TOLD ME TO CLB TO 11000 FT AND CLRED ME TO CONTINUE ON MY PRESENT SWESTERN HDG. THE NEXT CTLR COULD NOT RECEIVE MY XMISSION AND USED A AIRLINES FLT AS A RELAY STATION. HE TOLD ME TO DEVIATE TO THE N TO AVOID THE TOMBSTONE MOA B AND I AGAIN DECLINED AND VOLUNTEERED TO TURN AROUND TO EL PASO. AFTER SEVERAL MORE CALLS I WAS TOLD TO CONTINUE ON THE PRESENT HDG AND I ASKED FOR A NEW RTE TO DOUGLAS (DUG) VORTAC; V66 TO TUCSON; THEN TO PHOENIX WHICH WAS GRANTED. I WAS AWARE THAT I HAD PENETRATED THE MOA TOMBSTONE B AIRSPACE. I FEEL THIS WAS NOT WELL COORDINATED BY ZAB CTLRS; AND PLACED ME IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE DILEMMA BTWN COMPLYING WITH CTLRS WHO WANTED ME TO FLY INTO TSTMS AND MY FLT TO AVOID THEM AND TURN AROUND IF NECESSARY. ALSO THE WX BRIEFER ADMITTED HE HAD NO RADAR COVERAGE OF MY FLT RTE; SO HE RELIED ON LCL OBSERVATIONS.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.