A flight crew deviated right to stay upwind of weather; but were advised by ATC that deviation clear...

Attributes
ACN	984545
Time
Date	201112
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZME.ARTCC
State Reference	TN
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 9500 Flight Crew Type 1100
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 3600
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

We had switched to memphis center while beginning our arrival to dfw. ATC gave us a heads up about weather over fsm. We had both heard and understood that we were cleared to deviate as required then direct byp when able. I thought I had read that back as well; but in all honesty I could be wrong. We deviated right of course to be upwind of the weather. ATC queried us after a few minutes and said that he had cleared us to deviate left as required then direct. If so; we missed that; maybe in anticipation of needing to go upwind (right); we only heard the 'as required' bit. No traffic conflicts were imminent; so ATC allowed us to stay right with a subsequent descent clearance to avoid traffic downstream.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight crew deviated right to stay upwind of weather; but were advised by ATC that deviation clearance left was given. To resolve the conflict a descent clearance was given.

Narrative: We had switched to Memphis Center while beginning our arrival to DFW. ATC gave us a heads up about weather over FSM. We had both heard and understood that we were cleared to deviate as required then direct BYP when able. I thought I had read that back as well; but in all honesty I could be wrong. We deviated right of course to be upwind of the weather. ATC queried us after a few minutes and said that he had cleared us to deviate left as required then direct. If so; we missed that; maybe in anticipation of needing to go upwind (right); we only heard the 'as required' bit. No traffic conflicts were imminent; so ATC allowed us to stay right with a subsequent descent clearance to avoid traffic downstream.

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.