MD80 flight crew declared an emergency with approach control in order to fly the heading of their ch...

Attributes
ACN	897492
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Vectors
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

While [we were] being vectored for the approach the controller told us to fly heading 360. We told him we could not fly 360; but we could fly 330 because there was a thunderstorm in our path. He told us twice more to fly 360 for traffic and we told him we were unable due to a thunderstorm. Finally after the third time he told us to fly 360; we told him that we were declaring an emergency and that we would only be able to fly 330. We saw the traffic on TCAS at 2.5 miles and we never received an advisory or an RA from TCAS. The controller said okay for the 330 and we requested a different runway to avoid more thunderstorms. We landed uneventful. Controllers should not vector airplanes into thunderstorms.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD80 flight Crew declared an emergency with Approach Control in order to fly the heading of their choice to avoid a thunderstorm. An uneventful landing ensued on a runway not aligned with thunderstorms.

Narrative: While [we were] being vectored for the approach the Controller told us to fly heading 360. We told him we could not fly 360; but we could fly 330 because there was a thunderstorm in our path. He told us twice more to fly 360 for traffic and we told him we were unable due to a thunderstorm. Finally after the third time he told us to fly 360; we told him that we were declaring an emergency and that we would only be able to fly 330. We saw the traffic on TCAS at 2.5 miles and we never received an advisory or an RA from TCAS. The Controller said okay for the 330 and we requested a different runway to avoid more thunderstorms. We landed uneventful. Controllers should not vector airplanes into thunderstorms.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

MD80 flight crew declared an emergency with approach control in order to fly the heading of their choice to avoid a thunderstorm. An uneventful landing ensued on a runway not aligned with thunderstorms.