I have a question on the real world procedures to deal with bad weather. Lets say your the pilot and flying by the wire, and you can see a big storm up ahead on the radar. Does the ATC give you vectors to fly around it, or do you select your own heading? John.

Pick your own.

FAA directives do require controllers to provide weather-avoidance assistance to pilots, including issuing radar vectors or approving deviations from the planned route. Therefore either can happen.Miltos

As pilot in command, it is your responsibility to the safety of the aircraft and passengers, and anyone on the ground. Ideally, you would announce your intentions to ATC so they know what's going on, and make your heading change.----------------------------------------------------------------John MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private ASEL 141.2 hrs, 314 landings, 46 inst. apprs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

>Ideally, you would announce your intentions to ATC so they>know what's going on, and make your heading change.>If you announce and then do it, that is more of a dire situation response. Normally, what we do is tell them that we *need* a particular heading for weather. They can approve or disapprove that depending on traffic, since there are other planes out there besides yourself. If they can't give you that particular heading, they may offer something else and we negotiate from there. But if you are about to run into a cumulogranite and the controller is either uncooperative or the frequency is congested, then you are well within your right to just turn the plane, though you at that point are excersing emergency authority and should do a report when you get on the ground.Normally, I try to be as broad as possible with my requests in order to reserve plenty of lattitude for myself. Typically, a request worded as "...deviate right for weather" is good enough. They would then approve the "right" or "left" or "west" etc deviation and the heading is then left up to you. If you ask for a heading, you are tied to that heading. If you keep your request broad, you can deviate a bit more fluidly around the weather.