Enroute controller described an apparent rapid descent by an aircraft flying through weather and not...

Narrative:

A PC12 checked on and was issued the precipitation and handed off to a neighboring controller. The controller noticed aircraft had rapid descent and told me I think I may have a problem. He told me the aircraft was level at 21;000 and now was showing XXX and he switched to darc and altitude showed 11;500. I went to operations manager in charge (omic) and told him I think I have an aircraft going down and told him to look at our sector; and that it was the PC12; assigned 21;000 but now in rapid descent at 11;500. The radar controller and his d-side did the coordination with underlying approach controls and the radar controller was able to get back in touch with pilot of the PC12. The controller told the pilot he appeared to be heading north and suggested pilot fly due east to get away from precipitation. The controller suggested the aircraft now fly south to stay in between two areas of precipitation and gave him clearance to climb and maintain 21;000. The pilot continued on his route of flight. I informed the next area of the situation and to keep a close eye on the aircraft. Maybe [we need] better weather radar.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Enroute Controller described an apparent rapid descent by an aircraft flying through weather and noted that improved ATC weather RADAR could assist in these types of situations.

Narrative: A PC12 checked on and was issued the precipitation and handed off to a neighboring Controller. The Controller noticed aircraft had rapid descent and told me I think I may have a problem. He told me the aircraft was level at 21;000 and now was showing XXX and he switched to DARC and altitude showed 11;500. I went to Operations Manager in Charge (OMIC) and told him I think I have an aircraft going down and told him to look at our sector; and that it was the PC12; assigned 21;000 but now in rapid descent at 11;500. The Radar Controller and his D-side did the coordination with underlying approach controls and the Radar Controller was able to get back in touch with pilot of the PC12. The Controller told the pilot he appeared to be heading north and suggested pilot fly due east to get away from precipitation. The Controller suggested the aircraft now fly south to stay in between two areas of precipitation and gave him clearance to climb and maintain 21;000. The pilot continued on his route of flight. I informed the next area of the situation and to keep a close eye on the aircraft. Maybe [we need] better weather RADAR.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1004731
Time
Date	201203
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PC-12
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Enroute controller described an apparent rapid descent by an aircraft flying through weather and noted that improved ATC weather radar could assist in these types of situations.