Mooney accident pilot refused a clearance at 6,500'

[Lead Balloon]

Originally Posted by le Pingouin

As I've asked repeatedly, how is this any different to avoiding cloud?

Cloud isn’t created by legislation to provide a ‘service’ that is supposedly about ‘safety’. Air ‘services’ is.

A pilot can’t talk to cloud and request it do anything - at least not to any effect. Pilots can talk to Air ‘services’ and request clearances through gin-clear, empty airspace.

And clouds don’t behave in arbitrary and unpredictable ways that confuse and exasperate people with knowledge of meteorology. The differences in behaviour and outcomes in different parts of the Air ‘services’ system are manifest, confusing and exasperating, and denied only by those who’ve been on the Air ‘services’ KoolAide for way too long.