A300 flight crew reports being cleared to FL310 by sanyo ATC to avoid traffic. When the crew advises...

Narrative:

Approaching exoto; the limit of sanya airspace; sanya ATC instructed us; to climb from FL280 to FL310. This aircraft is restricted to FL280 in this airspace and the follow on airspace vvts (ho chi minh) due to FAA certification requirements. I instructed the first officer to tell the controller that we were restricted to FL280 or below which he did. The sanya controller responded with increased emphasis in his voice; 'traffic; climb now to FL310.' a second controller; I assume the supervisor; echoed the first controllers call for a climb. Fearing a possible collision or TCAS incident; I climbed to fl 310. After switching to vvts at exoto; we requested and received clearance to descend back to FL280. [This is] a conflict between safety and regulations. We need to get this limitation removed. The ATC controllers in this area do not understand or care about our limitation which is causing confusion. With more discussion; I might have been able to convince the sanya controller to descend rather than climb but taking that time may have caused a degradation in separation between us and the opposing traffic. After ensuring the traffic was clear we descend back to FL280. Let's get on the ball and get this burdensome and unnecessary limitation which is causing confusion with our ATC controllers lifted.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A300 flight crew reports being cleared to FL310 by Sanyo ATC to avoid traffic. When the crew advises ATC that they cannot climb to FL310 due to ADS-B non compliance; the clearance is reiterated in an urgent voice. The crew complies.

Narrative: Approaching EXOTO; the limit of Sanya airspace; Sanya ATC instructed us; to climb from FL280 to FL310. This aircraft is restricted to FL280 in this airspace and the follow on airspace VVTS (Ho Chi Minh) due to FAA certification requirements. I instructed the First Officer to tell the Controller that we were restricted to FL280 or below which he did. The Sanya Controller responded with increased emphasis in his voice; 'traffic; climb now to FL310.' A second Controller; I assume the Supervisor; echoed the first Controllers call for a climb. Fearing a possible collision or TCAS incident; I climbed to FL 310. After switching to VVTS at EXOTO; we requested and received clearance to descend back to FL280. [This is] a conflict between safety and regulations. We need to get this limitation removed. The ATC controllers in this area do not understand or care about our limitation which is causing confusion. With more discussion; I might have been able to convince the Sanya Controller to descend rather than climb but taking that time may have caused a degradation in separation between us and the opposing traffic. After ensuring the traffic was clear we descend back to FL280. Let's get on the ball and get this burdensome and unnecessary limitation which is causing confusion with our ATC controllers lifted.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1147753
Time
Date	201402
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZJSA.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

A300 flight crew reports being cleared to FL310 by sanyo ATC to avoid traffic. When the crew advises ATC that they cannot climb to FL310 due to ads-B non compliance; the clearance is reiterated in an urgent voice. The crew complies.