Originally Posted by
bookworm
Easy. Weather is "something I'm not going to fly through".
But does that apply to you personally or every pilot? Should ATC compel pilots to take vectors to avoid 'weather'?
Pretty much all the hazards that an aircraft is going to want to avoid are related to precipitation, though there are obviously difficulties in that the picture that the aircraft sees is not necessarily the same as what a ground based system would see.
As I've said previously what can be seen is precipitation but what it consists of is very difficult to know.
That said, I remain stunned that UK ATC doesn't have some sort of precip picture superimposable. It might not be perfect but it would surely offer some clue that deviations around particular areas are very likely to be requested.
And I remain stunned that people think there is some sort of magic radar out there that can interpret whether 'weather' contains icing or severe turbulence etc. etc. You sort of answered your own question anyway, ATC getting some clue that deviations may be requested. You know deviations are going to come when aircraft start asking for them, otherwise its not really possible to know whether any representation of 'weather' depicted on a radar screen is of the sort a pilot would want to avoid or not until you're told.
BD