Two B737 pilots and a ZDC controller involved described a failure to communicate the planned weather...

Attributes
ACN	1365440
Time
Date	201606
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZDC.ARTCC
State Reference	VA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 25
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 154 Flight Crew Type 400
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Aircraft X deviating well north of his intended route via J42 gve and on his present deviation was going to take him in near vicinity of weather I was showing on my radar scope; which I described in detail to him. I feel he was going this far off course to gain a more direct routing down route. Aircraft Y checked on frequency at FL330 requesting higher [same company; same last two digits of flight number]. I issued FL340 to aircraft Y and thought he acknowledged the clearance. My next instruction was to switch frequency to aircraft X to next sector. After this I observed aircraft X leaving FL350. I alerted the sector controller and he was already correcting the altitude of aircraft X. I went back to aircraft Y and verified he was climbing to FL340 which he again acknowledged. Aircraft Z was also on J42 via gve at FL350 and I asked him for a PIREP. He stated he was in smooth air and cloud tops were 10;000 feet below him. We need more predictable deviation expectations from pilots.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Two B737 pilots and a ZDC Controller involved described a failure to communicate the planned weather avoidance route. ATC believed the crew was trying to create a short cut and the crew stated they were merely trying to stay on the upwind side of a large thunderstorm.

Narrative: Aircraft X deviating well north of his intended route via J42 GVE and on his present deviation was going to take him in near vicinity of weather I was showing on my radar scope; which I described in detail to him. I feel he was going this far off course to gain a more direct routing down route. Aircraft Y checked on frequency at FL330 requesting higher [same company; same last two digits of flight number]. I issued FL340 to Aircraft Y and thought he acknowledged the clearance. My next instruction was to switch frequency to Aircraft X to next sector. After this I observed Aircraft X leaving FL350. I alerted the sector controller and he was already correcting the altitude of Aircraft X. I went back to Aircraft Y and verified he was climbing to FL340 which he again acknowledged. Aircraft Z was also on J42 via GVE at FL350 and I asked him for a PIREP. He stated he was in smooth air and cloud tops were 10;000 feet below him. We need more predictable deviation expectations from pilots.

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.

Two B737 pilots and a ZDC controller involved described a failure to communicate the planned weather avoidance route. ATC believed the crew was trying to create a short cut and the crew stated they were merely trying to stay on the upwind side of a large thunderstorm.