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A corporate jet crew at FL410 in weather with cloud tops near FL500 declined to descend into the weather for safety reasons and in accordance with ATC LOA's.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1198953 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201408 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZDC.ARTCC |
| State Reference | VA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Vectors |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 7700 Flight Crew Type 1900 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
After reaching FL410 in attempt to avoid building convective activity; ATC instructed to descend and maintain FL340. Response was unable for weather. Controller asked if we were refusing to descend. I responded; 'no; ma'am; we are unable descend due to weather for 25 miles.' there was a line of weather with tops indicating near FL500. We were on a 15 degree right vector to avoid weather and a descent in any direction would have been an unsafe decision. The weather was actively building and FL410 was not on top. We made the right decision to plan to maintain altitude rather than descend into convective activity. The controller was not helpful whatsoever. This is a common route flown by our company and we understand ATC loas; however safety was compromised by this particular controller's response to our situation. Many other aircraft were deviating and I don't believe she realized the extent of the relatively small; yet extensive line of thunderstorms and lightning on the ohio-west virginia border; likely west of her center's airspace.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A corporate jet crew at FL410 in weather with cloud tops near FL500 declined to descend into the weather for safety reasons and in accordance with ATC LOA's.
Narrative: After reaching FL410 in attempt to avoid building convective activity; ATC instructed to descend and maintain FL340. Response was unable for weather. Controller asked if we were refusing to descend. I responded; 'No; Ma'am; we are unable descend due to weather for 25 miles.' There was a line of weather with tops indicating near FL500. We were on a 15 degree right vector to avoid weather and a descent in any direction would have been an unsafe decision. The weather was actively building and FL410 was not on top. We made the right decision to plan to maintain altitude rather than descend into convective activity. The Controller was not helpful whatsoever. This is a common route flown by our company and we understand ATC LOAs; however safety was compromised by this particular Controller's response to our situation. Many other aircraft were deviating and I don't believe she realized the extent of the relatively small; yet extensive line of thunderstorms and lightning on the Ohio-West Virginia border; likely west of her Center's airspace.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.