Narrative:

Upon climbout and on initial call to center the controller told us to accelerate to 300 knots and fly a heading. My first officer read back the heading but said we were unable to do 300 knots due to the bad ride and moderate chop in the climb. The controller; obviously annoyed we could not comply then gave us a series of delay vectors and maintain 250 knots. We complied with his instructions and leveled off at 19;000 ft. He gave us another more direct heading and told us to maintain 280 knots. I looked and my first officer and shook my head because the ride was still bad and moderate chop was being reported at all altitudes. My first officer said the best we could do was 270 knots for the moderate chop. The controller came back and said 'no maintain 280 knots!' again we said unable and he quickly come back on and said 'no do 280 knots!' in a threatening voice.my first officer again said unable. Then the controller basically yelled 'everyone else is doing 280 knots so' at this point I was fed up with it and I keyed up and said 'were going to do 270!'. Right after I stated that the controller stated 'anything less than 280 knots will be a pilot deviation!' I couldn't believe what I just heard in such a threatening voice that out of anger I just rolled the speed up to 280 and didn't respond. I wasn't going to get into an arguing match with a controller on a congested frequency about 10 knots. I was going to be the more professional one out of the two and move on. However the ride was still bad and I didn't want to be bullied by the controller and after all I was the one flying the plane not him so I rolled the speed back to 270 and told the first officer to advise. The controller gave us a frequency change right at that moment and my first officer told the new controller that we were going to do 270 knots and the controller simply said 'roger'. The flight continued with no further problems.the more I think about this incident the more I get mad at myself for complying with the 280 knot speed for the short period of time. I was taken aback by the threat from the controller. I've never heard anything like that. No pilot wants to have a pilot deviation on his/her record so in that split second I just complied. Knowing he was wrong and I was right I returned the aircraft to 270 knots. I think the controller was way out of line and should not use threats against the pilot's license just to get pilots to comply with their requests. It can potentially have devastating and deadly consequences. Going forward I will never let a controller assume control of my aircraft and will gladly explain myself to whoever wants to know otherwise.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ERJ-170 flight crew reported a Center Controller threatened them with a pilot deviation because they would not comply with a speed assignment due to moderate turbulence.

Narrative: Upon climbout and on initial call to Center the controller told us to accelerate to 300 knots and fly a heading. My First Officer read back the heading but said we were unable to do 300 knots due to the bad ride and moderate chop in the climb. The controller; obviously annoyed we could not comply then gave us a series of delay vectors and maintain 250 knots. We complied with his instructions and leveled off at 19;000 ft. He gave us another more direct heading and told us to maintain 280 knots. I looked and my First Officer and shook my head because the ride was still bad and moderate chop was being reported at all altitudes. My First Officer said the best we could do was 270 knots for the moderate chop. The controller came back and said 'no maintain 280 knots!' Again we said unable and he quickly come back on and said 'no do 280 knots!' in a threatening voice.My First Officer again said unable. Then the Controller basically yelled 'everyone else is doing 280 knots so' At this point I was fed up with it and I keyed up and said 'were going to do 270!'. Right after I stated that the controller stated 'anything less than 280 knots will be a pilot deviation!' I couldn't believe what I just heard in such a threatening voice that out of anger I just rolled the speed up to 280 and didn't respond. I wasn't going to get into an arguing match with a controller on a congested frequency about 10 knots. I was going to be the more professional one out of the two and move on. However the ride was still bad and I didn't want to be bullied by the controller and after all I was the one flying the plane not him so I rolled the speed back to 270 and told the First Officer to advise. The controller gave us a frequency change right at that moment and my First Officer told the new controller that we were going to do 270 knots and the controller simply said 'Roger'. The flight continued with no further problems.The more I think about this incident the more I get mad at myself for complying with the 280 knot speed for the short period of time. I was taken aback by the threat from the controller. I've never heard anything like that. No pilot wants to have a Pilot Deviation on his/her record so in that split second I just complied. Knowing he was wrong and I was right I returned the aircraft to 270 knots. I think the controller was way out of line and should not use threats against the pilot's license just to get pilots to comply with their requests. It can potentially have devastating and deadly consequences. Going forward I will never let a controller assume control of my aircraft and will gladly explain myself to whoever wants to know otherwise.

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.