An oceanic track aircraft encountered a thunderstorm at FL320 approaching alaska and declared an eme...

Narrative:

I was relief pilot flying; tracking east. We were in radar contact talking to zan center at FL320. Coming upon a significant build up decided to deviate north (left) of track. Just when the relief captain; pilot monitoring; began to ask for deviation clearance; zan began a lengthy exchange of transmissions with a foreign carrier. He and the other aircraft had to repeat several times each transmission. Once we were able to get center's attention; center's reply was; 'stand by.' not able to wait any longer I took up a heading from track north of course to avoid weather. When we were able to get hold of zan center again; we were 'emergency deviation north of track for weather.' his response was; 'okay; report back on course.' ended up going 8 NM off track before turning back. Intercepted course and called zan center when emergency deviation complete and back on course. His reply was 'roger.'

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Oceanic Track aircraft encountered a thunderstorm at FL320 approaching Alaska and declared an emergency to divert around the weather because the crew was unable to break into a lengthy ATC communication.

Narrative: I was Relief Pilot flying; tracking east. We were in radar contact talking to ZAN Center at FL320. Coming upon a significant build up decided to deviate north (left) of track. Just when the Relief Captain; pilot monitoring; began to ask for deviation clearance; ZAN began a lengthy exchange of transmissions with a foreign carrier. He and the other aircraft had to repeat several times each transmission. Once we were able to get Center's attention; Center's reply was; 'stand by.' Not able to wait any longer I took up a heading from track north of course to avoid weather. When we were able to get hold of ZAN Center again; we were 'emergency deviation north of track for weather.' His response was; 'okay; report back on course.' Ended up going 8 NM off track before turning back. Intercepted course and called ZAN Center when emergency deviation complete and back on course. His reply was 'Roger.'

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.

Attributes
ACN	902365
Time
Date	201008
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZAN.ARTCC
State Reference	AK
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying Relief Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Captain Relief Pilot Pilot Not Flying
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

An oceanic track aircraft encountered a thunderstorm at FL320 approaching alaska and declared an emergency to divert around the weather because the crew was unable to break into a lengthy ATC communication.