One easyJet crew asked for descent and were told to "Standby". Great reply from the crew "I don't want to standby I want to descend because of turbulence" Maybe the ATC guy in his warm stationary room won't ask a crew to "Standby" again!!
Would you prefer ATC to descend you into another plane? I will tell pilots to standby when needed, different pilots have different degrees of turbulence tolerance and I will certainly not loose separation because of a pilot feeling a bit uncomfortable. Whenever possible he will get descend, if he has to wait and cannot he should declare that he's unable to maintain level and emergency separation can be applied. This happened once to me during the past 20 years in probably the busiest airspace over Europe. The idea that you even think ATC would not give descend because they don't feel like it is revolting and shows very little appreciation of our jobs. Have a great Sunday.
Last edited by garp; 12th Mar 2007 at 06:57.
Reason: Inappropriate language