ATS = Air Traffic Services
As with the government, they sometimes need to be reminded that they are there for us not vice versa.
However Peter was cleared by the Austrian ATC unit for the avoidence heading until able to proceed to the next waypoint, where Padova wanted him.
The only thing I would add is I guess we shouldnt take it too seriously,
On one side of the coin it is bad form because the professionals involved should know better, and there is a real danger that if the pilot on the receiving end had been less experienced he might have felt bullied into something with which he was uncomfortable, but I guess many of us have seen this sort of nonesense, and the biggest lesson of all is to rise above it, they can all s** off, all that ultimately matters is the pilot in command is exactly that, the pilot in command.
and
sometimes it really does pay to resort to good old English along the lines of “I dont understand the issue here, but I am really uncomfortable flying my aircraft into x cloud in front of me for whatever reason, so can we sort this out please”. It is all very well sticking with the recommended script, but I am afraid sometimes it just doesnt get the message across, whatever the purists may think.
I checked your position when you first called about the avoidance heading. From that position (Weissenbach am Lech, a place I have flow by many times)) a track of 150 is a direct to Bolzano, and maybe that’s why she was a little bit suspicious that your “avoidance heading” was not so much about the weather.
It is indeed shocking to find an aircraft pointing towards its destination 
The whole Eurocontrol system and all the unix hackers programmers in Brussels have spent a million man-years developing a system which tries to make that as unlikely as possible.
But let’s look at this actual situation. I had this:
I would be stupid to go through X or Y.
I can avoid X and Y by going to A B or C.
ATC want me to go through X.
Of A B and C, B is the least bad route (I was not going to Bolzano actually; I was going to FORER)
Which of the three directions “to avoid” am I going to pick?
A will take me way off track (and probably not where Padova – according to Innsbruck – want me).
C will take me way off track (and probably not where Padova – according to Innsbruck – want me).
Obviously I am going to pick B as the desired heading “to avoid”.
The only thing I would add is I guess we shouldnt take it too seriously,
Well, sure. I started this thread because this was a very unusual situation.
I have other video clips where there is a much more obvious “to avoid” situation, but they are irrelevant because ATC always allowed it, more or less immediately.
In light GA, at say FL160, your rate of climb is not great so you have to work well in advance, often 50 miles ahead, and often going for a mere hint of a blue sky visible in some cloud many miles ahead. I had a lot of that on that flight.
I did not say that it‘s shocking – i only realized that your avoidance heading was a good choice :-)
That little episode is really meaningless, just forget it.
Nice drawing! All clear now ;-)
I’m afraid this is something we have to deal with every now and then…
Last year when talking to Paris Control I was on a heading to avoid. This is what I was avoiding:
If I could climb a bit more we would be able to top this buildups, but that was impossible as I was already at the service ceiling.
So I had to deviate, and quite a long stretch.
The French controller started to ask things like: How long do you still need this heading? Are you ready to turn? I really need you to return to your track, etc.
You’d have to be a strong-willed individual to continue your path and withstand the pressure from ATC…
In retrospect, I think it helps if you describe the situation so the controller can empathize with the situation.
Most controllers are aware of how vulnerable light GA aircraft are…
Peter,
The ability to record both sides of transmissions is extremely useful. What set up do you use for yours?
lenthamen wrote:
The French controller started to ask things like: How long do you still need this heading? Are you ready to turn? I really need you to return to your track, etc.
I had this very often in Italy – just ignore it and use “I’ll report when clear of weather” 
Yes, that’s how I handle it too … ‘unable", “will report when able” … just don’t let them press you. Whenever i come back from the south and pass the last ridge of he Alps Munich ATC wants to know “if i am able to cancel” IFR … but after that sometimes created problems with getting under C airspace quick enough and with avoiding cloud I now stay IFR close to the field. I only cancel when it’s really blue skies.
Some controllers (not Munich) simply don’t understand the limitations of our planes.
I had this very often in Italy – just ignore it and use “I’ll report when clear of weather”
True. Italian ATCOs always seem to want to know things in advance and plan ahead. While that’s generally a good thing, all this asking can sometimes be tiring. It also applies to VFR. “Coordination” is their favourite word and they very frequently say “coordination in progess” (which means “shut up and standby” )
