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aviatormjc · 09-29-2009, 09:15 AM

Climbing out on takeoff with departure on heading 320, the crew paints a weather cell less than 10 miles off the right side of the aircraft. Another 15 miles on the departure heading would make it clear for the crew to accept a vector to the right. However departure instructs the crew to turn right heading 110 and switch to another departure frequency.

It was the CAs flight so the FO running the radios turns to the CA, and the CA says he can only accept heading 060 at most for 15 miles. Just as the CA finished speaking, departure angrily barks "turn right heading 110 and switch to departure 1XX.XX." The FO keys up and states that heading will not work due to weather and can only accept heading 060 for 15 miles.

The departure then hastily speaks " you should have told me that earlier...now you can go ahead and make a left 360 and maintain 9,000." The crew makes the 360 and the CA mentions the issue to departure and departure replies..."well now you ahould have filed a different route, now i'll have to switch your route...make another left 360."

On the ground the CA had stated that how he wished to add more fuel due to weather and at this point the FO is thinking how he mentioned that and how it would have been a good idea at this point.

Long story short...the departure ATC placed the crew on many vectors at cloud tops and would not allow a climb higher that 15,000. As the crew transferred from frequency to frequency the vectors became more and more outrageous. The crew experienced severe turbulence and requested a higher alititude after stating conditions and was denied. In fact all crew requests were denied and they were vectored into small build-ups with moderate to severe turbulence. A simple climb to the original filed alitude of FL190 would have kept the crew out of the turbulence and cloud tops.

It seems that this one departure controller passed the word along to the other ATC frequncies to go against this flight. This was a case of ATC controller error. One simple request turned the controller mad and made the flight a nightmare.

What would you have done?

09-29-2009, 09:15 AM	#1 (permalink)
aviatormjc Line Holder Joined APC: Apr 2008 Position: EMB145 FO Posts: 35	What to do when ATC goes bad... Climbing out on takeoff with departure on heading 320, the crew paints a weather cell less than 10 miles off the right side of the aircraft. Another 15 miles on the departure heading would make it clear for the crew to accept a vector to the right. However departure instructs the crew to turn right heading 110 and switch to another departure frequency. It was the CAs flight so the FO running the radios turns to the CA, and the CA says he can only accept heading 060 at most for 15 miles. Just as the CA finished speaking, departure angrily barks "turn right heading 110 and switch to departure 1XX.XX." The FO keys up and states that heading will not work due to weather and can only accept heading 060 for 15 miles. The departure then hastily speaks " you should have told me that earlier...now you can go ahead and make a left 360 and maintain 9,000." The crew makes the 360 and the CA mentions the issue to departure and departure replies..."well now you ahould have filed a different route, now i'll have to switch your route...make another left 360." On the ground the CA had stated that how he wished to add more fuel due to weather and at this point the FO is thinking how he mentioned that and how it would have been a good idea at this point. Long story short...the departure ATC placed the crew on many vectors at cloud tops and would not allow a climb higher that 15,000. As the crew transferred from frequency to frequency the vectors became more and more outrageous. The crew experienced severe turbulence and requested a higher alititude after stating conditions and was denied. In fact all crew requests were denied and they were vectored into small build-ups with moderate to severe turbulence. A simple climb to the original filed alitude of FL190 would have kept the crew out of the turbulence and cloud tops. It seems that this one departure controller passed the word along to the other ATC frequncies to go against this flight. This was a case of ATC controller error. One simple request turned the controller mad and made the flight a nightmare. What would you have done?