2005-06 · NASA ASRS report 663920
A C310 PLT REFUSED AN ATC TFC VECTOR BECAUSE THE TRACK WOULD HAVE PLACED HIM IN SEVERE WX.
I WAS ON AN IFR FLT PLAN IN CRUISE FROM BOWMAN FIELD TO PONTIAC ARPT ON A 030 DEG HDG AT 9000 FT. SIGNIFICANT CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WAS PRESENT TO THE NE; E; SE; AND S. TO THE W AND SW CUMULUS CLOUDS WERE BUILDING IN TYPICAL SUMMER MIDWEST FASHION. APPROX 50 DME SW OF CVG VOR; ATC BEGAN ISSUING VECTORS FOR TFC AVOIDANCE. AT FIRST THEY ISSUED A DESCENT TO 7000 FT. WITH SCATTERED TO BROKEN CUMULUS PRESENT; PLUS TURB I TOLD ATC I WAS UNABLE TO COMPLY DUE TO WEATHER. A DESCENT TO A LOWER ALT WOULD HAVE BEEN UNCOMFORTABLE AT THE LEAST AND HAZARDOUS AT THE MOST FOR MYSELF AND MY THREE PAX. AS AN ALTERNATE I INFORMED ATC I COULD ACCEPT AN OFF COURSE VECTOR. THE CTLR CAME BACK WITH AN EASTERLY HDG. WITH A SOLID LINE OF CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY FROM THE SW TO THE NE; THIS TOO WAS UNACCEPTABLE. I TOLD THE CTLR A L TURN WOULD KEEP ME CLR OF THE WX AND HE SAID 'FINE; TURN L TO A HDG OF 160 DEGS.' I'VE HAD SOME OFF-COURSE VECTORS BEFORE; BUT NEVER 230 DEGS AND CERTAINLY NOT INTO CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY. I INFORMED HIM I COULD NOT ACCEPT THIS AND HE BECAME PANICKY STATING 'YOU'RE GONNA CRASH INTO ANOTHER AIRPLANE.' I CALMLY REPLIED 'NOBODY IS GOING TO CRASH INTO ANYBODY.' VISIBILITY IN THE DIRECTION OF THE TFC (NW) WAS UNRESTRICTED. I WAS NEVER ABLE TO VISUALLY ACQUIRE ANY TFC AND THERE WAS NO LOSS OF SEPARATION OR SAFETY ISSUE. AS FAR AS THE LATTER IS CONCERNED; THE SAME CANNOT BE SAID HAD I ACCEPTED THE INANE VECTORS TO FLY THROUGH THE THUNDERSTORMS. I HAVE READ TOO MANY ACCIDENT RPTS THAT STATE 'WITNESSES OBSERVED ACFT FALLING FROM SKY MINUS WINGS' AND THE LIKE. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS INCLUDE: THE CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY IN AND AROUND THE APCH AND DEP CORRIDORS SURROUNDING CVG; FREQUENCY CONGESTION LEADING TO PARTIAL TRANSMISSIONS AND/OR REPLIES; AND MOST SIGNIFICANTLY; THE RELATIVE INEXPERIENCE OF SOME OF THE RADAR CTLRS IN THIS SECTOR. ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN DOING THIS FOR ANY AMOUNT OF TIME RECOGNIZES A ROOKIE AND MAKES ALLOWANCES FOR THESE PLTS/CTLRS. PERHAPS IT IS A LACK OF APPRECIATION OF OPS AROUND SIGNIFICANT METEOROLOGICAL EVENTS; OR THE INABILITY OF ATC TO 'SEE' THE WEATHER. IN ANY CASE; I WOULD BE LAX IN MY PLT-IN-COMMAND RESPONSIBILITIES IF I ALLOWED ATC TO PUT MY PAX AND ACFT IN A SIT WHERE THERE WAS A GREAT PROBABILITY OF GRAVE DANGER. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: PLT STATED THAT HE WOULD NOT HAVE FLOWN HIS ACFT INTO THAT PARTICULAR WEATHER EVEN IF HIS CARGO WAS FREIGHT; MUCH LESS HUMANS. THE FAA HAS NOT COMMUNICATED WITH HIM AND HE STATED THAT IF ONE COULD LISTEN TO THE COMMUNICATIONS TAPE THERE WOULD BE INTERESTING ATC DATA ABOUT THE VECTOR AND HIS RESPONSE.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.