Narrative:

While on descent to shv moderate turbulence was encountered at approximately 17;000 ft. At approximately 13;000 ft the moderate turbulence became continuous with heavy rain showers due to moderate to severe convective activity around the shv airport. At 13;000 ft I decided to abandon our approach and continue on to our flight planned alternate airport dal. Pursuant to our fom manual our flight operations were contacted through commercial radio once we were out of the turbulent conditions. They were unable to make contact with operations due to an ongoing medical emergency on frequency. Several attempts were made while en route to our alternate. Approximately thirty minutes had passed before the frequencies were clear and contact was made with operations. Operations were advised of our position and fuel on board. The dispatcher on duty that night asked if we could change our alternate to our departure airport. I had my first officer contact ATC to request the anticipated routing around storm. Operations were advised that we did not have sufficient fuel to return to our departure airport; so we advised we would continue to our planned alternate. Ten minutes later; a SELCAL was received from operations with a request to deviate to gpt. Again; ATC was contacted and request for our anticipated routing was requested. Operations advised us of our anticipated fuel burn going direct from our present position. Because of the line of level 5 and 6 thunderstorms in and about the area; direct routing was not possible. Once again; operations was advised we could not do that with our remaining fuel and we would press on to dal. Moments later the company vice president got on the line and said we can not go to our planned alternate as there were 'no services there' and could we go to hou. Once again; ATC was contacted and anticipated routing was received over san antonio with delays getting into hou. The dispatcher and vice president were then advised that we were now on the arrival to dal and that our remaining fuel would not allow us to safely deviate to hou. We landed at our planned alternate dal. Upon arrival we were met by ground handlers that fueled the airplane as we waited for the storm to pass in anticipation of continuing on to shv. The storm had become worse around shv airport as we were receiving pressure from the vice president to depart before our duty day has reached our maximum hours. ATC had advised us on the ground in dal that no airplanes were landing in shv and that there was one military aircraft holding and a commuter that diverted. Our company vice president advised us that the commuters were landing in shv when in fact no one had landed; per ATC in the past hour. Duty time was running out. We were now at a fifteen and a half hour duty day and our flight time was seven hours fifty five minutes. Our vice president and flight scheduler were now on the phone telling me that they would not get me violated and would not allow us to go over our eight hour duty day. According to our scheduler our duty time was based on block out time and the time the airplane touched down! Assuming she and the vice president were correct; our flight time was seven hours fifty five minutes from block out to on time. The pressure from the vice president to dispatch toward level 5 and 6 thunderstorms when in fact our duty time was in fact up and no airplanes had landed at shv; caused my termination with the company by the vice president as I would not accept the flight.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reports diverting to his filed alternate when thunderstorms make landing at destination untenable. The company is not contacted immediately due to frequency congestion but suggest other alternates when contacted. The crew cannot comply due to weather and fuel considerations and land at their filed alternate. Due to the weather at destination the crew cannot depart prior to expiration of their duty time. The Captain reports being terminated as a result of this incident.

Narrative: While on descent to SHV moderate turbulence was encountered at approximately 17;000 FT. At approximately 13;000 FT the moderate turbulence became continuous with heavy rain showers due to moderate to severe convective activity around the SHV airport. At 13;000 FT I decided to abandon our approach and continue on to our flight planned alternate airport DAL. Pursuant to our FOM manual our Flight Operations were contacted through Commercial Radio once we were out of the turbulent conditions. They were unable to make contact with Operations due to an ongoing medical emergency on frequency. Several attempts were made while en route to our alternate. Approximately thirty minutes had passed before the frequencies were clear and contact was made with Operations. Operations were advised of our position and fuel on board. The Dispatcher on duty that night asked if we could change our alternate to our departure airport. I had my First Officer contact ATC to request the anticipated routing around storm. Operations were advised that we did not have sufficient fuel to return to our departure airport; so we advised we would continue to our planned alternate. Ten minutes later; a SELCAL was received from Operations with a request to deviate to GPT. Again; ATC was contacted and request for our anticipated routing was requested. Operations advised us of our anticipated fuel burn going direct from our present position. Because of the line of level 5 and 6 thunderstorms in and about the area; direct routing was not possible. Once again; Operations was advised we could not do that with our remaining fuel and we would press on to DAL. Moments later the company Vice President got on the line and said we can not go to our planned alternate as there were 'NO SERVICES THERE' and could we go to HOU. Once again; ATC was contacted and anticipated routing was received over San Antonio with delays getting into HOU. The dispatcher and Vice President were then advised that we were now on the arrival to DAL and that our remaining fuel would not allow us to safely deviate to HOU. We landed at our planned alternate DAL. Upon arrival we were met by ground handlers that fueled the airplane as we waited for the storm to pass in anticipation of continuing on to SHV. The storm had become worse around SHV airport as we were receiving pressure from the Vice President to depart before our duty day has reached our maximum hours. ATC had advised us on the ground in DAL that NO airplanes were landing in SHV and that there was one military aircraft holding and a commuter that diverted. Our company Vice President advised us that the commuters were landing in SHV when in fact no one had landed; per ATC in the past hour. Duty time was running out. We were now at a fifteen and a half hour duty day and our flight time was seven hours fifty five minutes. Our Vice President and Flight Scheduler were now on the phone telling me that they would NOT get me violated and would NOT allow us to go over our eight hour duty day. According to our Scheduler our duty time was based on block out time and the time the airplane touched down! Assuming she and the Vice President were correct; our flight time was seven hours fifty five minutes from block OUT to ON time. The pressure from the Vice President to dispatch toward level 5 and 6 thunderstorms when in fact our duty time was in fact up and no airplanes had landed at SHV; caused my termination with the company by the Vice President as I would not accept the flight.

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.