On 2 Jun 2004 06:59:46 -0700, (PaulH) wrote:

I have a fairly new IFR rating and am wondering how much help to
expect from ATC on Tstorm avoidance. Will they suggest re-routing or
do you have to request it based on visual, FSS, or stormscope
location?

Your best bet is to have onboard radar, Nexrad, or spherics equipment.
ATC (center or approach) will almost always approve a deviation to
avoid the storms. Just ask for X degrees left or right for Y miles
for weather avoidance.

If you don't have onboard weather, you are really in a tough spot. If
the storms are sparse and your flight is short - one can get by with a
good view of the radar picture right before departing the FBO and
getting inflight updates with either Fligh****ch or ATC. This
requires some practice to do effectively and is not effective on a
long distance flight. New cells can pop up easily and the old ones
will move a good distance by the time you get there...

If there are tons of embedded cells there is no way you will be able
to gather enough info from ATC/Fligh****ch to stay clear of all of
them. That's a good time to stay on the ground.

-Nathan