Deviations - when to ask
Hey controller folk,
A search shows many conversations about asking for deviations but not to as technical an answer I'm looking for to answer a question from a conversation I was having last night.
We were deviating around occasional CBs, TCUs and ACCs. None required any more than about a two mile deviation from track centreline as we were already on the edge of the clouds.
The question posed was at what point should we actually ask for deviations considering the protected airspace generated around the aircraft? I've always asked for any deviation, no matter how small based on the idea that we share the airspace and I may not know whose coming around the other side.
But...the counter argument was if we are being protected by a set number of miles either side of track, would the controller necessarily care if we were forced to deviate within that protected airspace, especially considering deviations are normally lateral and not vertical. In other words his argumen is we should only ask for deviations if we will exit the protected airspace being generated for the track centreline.
I thought it was interesting enough to not discount the idea and ask the question, even though I don't necessarily agree.
Thanks!