A CHALLENGER 600 WAS GIVEN AN OFF AIRWAY RADAR VECTOR HDG BY ZME. PLT OBSERVED TCASII TFC AT 35 NM AND DEMANDED THE REASON FOR THE HDG WHICH TURNED INTO A HEATED EXCHANGE.

Narrative

AT FL350; CRUISING WBOUND; CTLR GAVE US A TURN OF 85 DEGS TO THE R; DIRECTLY AT SBOUND FL350 TFC (TCASII SHOWED ACFT AT 35 MI). I QUESTIONED TURN AND WAS RUDELY TOLD TO JUST TURN. I COMPLIED. THEN I LET THE CTLR KNOW THAT I WAS THE CAPT OF ACFT. I CALLED ZME AND CTR MGR FORWARDED CALL TO QUALITY ASSURANCE. THEY REVIEWED COM TAPE AND SAID CTLR WAS RIGHT TO DO THE TURN. I ASKED WHY THE TURN; AND WAS TOLD 'I GUESS IT WAS DUE TO TFC.' I DON'T WANT A GUESS AS AN ANSWER. CTLR NOR QUALITY ASSURANCE WERE ABSOLUTELY NO HELP. I REQUESTED ALL TAPES OF INCIDENT TO BE SAVED. PLT IS CAPT OF ACFT; NOT CTLR. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 433666: I AM FILING THIS RPT BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ADVISED TO; EVEN THOUGH I WASN'T IN THE COCKPIT AT THE TIME OF THE OCCURRENCE OF THIS INCIDENT. ADDITIONALLY ALL INFO IS SECONDHAND AS RELATED TO ME BY THE CAPT. I MADE NO NOTES ABOUT THIS INCIDENT AT THE TIME BECAUSE I WASN'T IN THE COCKPIT WHEN IT OCCURRED. APPARENTLY THE CTLR NEVER USED THE WORD 'IMMEDIATELY' AND NEVER ISSUED TFC INFO. I CAN'T REMEMBER EVERYTHING THE CAPT SAID TO ME BUT HE POINTED TO THE TCASII AND IT LOOKED LIKE A BETTER WAY TO SEPARATE US FROM THE XING TFC WAS TO TURN THE OTHER ACFT 45 DEGS L TO GO BEHIND US.