Narrative:

We departed alm on the CRONA2.cnx departure. After being cleared to 17000; it became apparent that thunderstorms had moved over the departure route and that deviations would be necessary. We were told that deviations right of course were approved. Most of the weather was located to the right of us so we asked for deviations left and/or higher. We were informed that we were unable to deviate left due to military airspace and unable higher; due to military airspace. We entered a small area of what appeared on the radar to be moderate precipitation but was in fact an area of moderate to severe turbulence and precipitation. We repeatedly asked for higher; or deviations to the left due to weather. The controller denied the requests; giving us only clearance to enter into weather that appeared more severe. We could see that the weather off to our left was clear.we were handed off to another controller [who] upon asking; gave us a deviation to the left. We turned left to avoid a very large storm directly in front of us. Turning to the right would have put us into equally severe weather. Upon making the left turn; the controller informed us to return to the previous frequency. On calling back to the previous frequency we were again told that there would be no left deviations and an 'immediate 040 degree heading' was ordered from the controller. This would have put us directly back in conflict with weather that could have damaged the aircraft or caused injury or death to the occupants. The controller was argumentative and insisted that we turn immediately back towards the storm. At this time; I took the radio and informed the controller that we were going to turn to a heading and if I needed to declare an emergency; that I would. We asked for a number to call to have a discussion with a ZAB supervisor.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Corporate jet Captain reported using his Captain's authority to avoid thunderstorms during climb.

Narrative: We departed ALM on the CRONA2.CNX departure. After being cleared to 17000; it became apparent that thunderstorms had moved over the departure route and that deviations would be necessary. We were told that deviations right of course were approved. Most of the weather was located to the right of us so we asked for deviations left and/or higher. We were informed that we were unable to deviate left due to military airspace and unable higher; due to military airspace. We entered a small area of what appeared on the radar to be moderate precipitation but was in fact an area of moderate to severe turbulence and precipitation. We repeatedly asked for higher; or deviations to the left due to weather. The Controller denied the requests; giving us only clearance to enter into weather that appeared more severe. We could see that the weather off to our left was clear.We were handed off to another Controller [who] upon asking; gave us a deviation to the left. We turned left to avoid a very large storm directly in front of us. Turning to the right would have put us into equally severe weather. Upon making the left turn; the Controller informed us to return to the previous frequency. On calling back to the previous frequency we were again told that there would be no left deviations and an 'immediate 040 degree heading' was ordered from the Controller. This would have put us directly back in conflict with weather that could have damaged the aircraft or caused injury or death to the occupants. The Controller was argumentative and insisted that we turn immediately back towards the storm. At this time; I took the radio and informed the Controller that we were going to turn to a heading and if I needed to declare an emergency; that I would. We asked for a number to call to have a discussion with a ZAB supervisor.

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.