By the way it does happen once in a while that controller could have warned a pilot about the weather but whatever the circumstances he/she did not. The case in point was a recent accident that killed a very famous flyer - Scott Crossfield. This is from a well know aviation site on the subject of pilots, controllers and weather. I think it summarizes situation very well.The NTSB says pilots and air traffic controllers need to cooperate better to keep airplanes from flying into extreme weather. In a safety alert issued last week, the NTSB says avoiding thunderstorms is mainly the pilot's responsibility but air traffic controller training and briefings "have not been sufficient to ensure that pilots receive the weather advisories needed to support good in-flight weather avoidance decisions." The alert cited four fatal accidents in which the aircraft involved were flying IFR and under ATC control when they hit the weather. Among the accidents cited was the one that killed former test pilot Scott Crossfield in Georgia last April.The NTSB safety alert acknowledges that the primary responsibility of ATC is to maintain separation, but that it has the secondary role of monitoring and warning pilots about hazardous flight conditions. The alert notes that the quality of information is bound to be inconsistent because of the wide variations in equipment available to controllers. Some see the world in black and white via decades-old analog stations while others can see remarkable detail in a storm's behavior as reflected by radar returns from water droplets. Pilots are urged to never assume that controllers are watching the weather ahead for them and controllers are reminded that pilots can't necessarily see what they're up against.Michael J.

Michael:Here are some more details I just found. Most interesting !http://www.aero-news.net/Community/Discuss...=5269&Refresh=1This lawsuit could drag on a long time.Bob (Las Cruces, NM)Ron Kracke practiced medicine in Pendleton,Indiana and we all three belonged to Edgewwood Country Club together at one time in Edgewood, just on the west side of Anderson, Indiana. Bill Shearer (Pilot) was my partner in several 2-man golf tournaments. His wife Betsy was the real golfer in the family, as Bill was mostly (almost entirely) into flying, fishing,and hunting.Armand McClintock was the head of Indiana Drug Enforcement and I did not know him.

>As a side-I have a stormscope and xm weather in my plane>now-and I would not launch into anything without these two>aids. This summer-when I flew to Santa Fe, Nm. I asked for a>diversion to the right of course(seeing a patch of nasty stuff>on the xm)-the controller granted it. About 5 minutes later he>called me and asked "how did you do that?". He said when I>asked for the diversion he had nothing on his scope and it had>only just appeared!You are 100% right. You may not afford an airborne radar but having in-cockpit weather receiver should be considered a must for anyone flying IFR. And I believe this stuff was already available and quite affordable in 2004.I also noticed the accident aircraft did not accumulate many hours in the air. 650 hours in 14 years - that is very infrequent flying, almost not worth owning an aircraft but this is clearly up to an individual.Michael J.