Narrative:

Aircraft X was in level flight. There was weather between them and their destination that other aircraft had to deviate around earlier in the night. I issued the weather; and even though the pilot didn't see the weather; he still requested to deviate. We typically lose radar on aircraft at or below 12000 feet in this area and he was level at 8000 feet; but later requested 10000 feet. We had just been briefed earlier that we cannot issue weather deviations to non-radar aircraft. I was very worried that we would lose the aircraft on radar and I would have to declare an emergency on his behalf. This situation occupied my attention and while nothing unsafe happened; I would have been extremely distracted as I had an 'emergency in the making.' I was relieved from the sector before the aircraft went non-radar; so I'm not sure how this situation ended.there was nothing unsafe in the way we used to assign direct routes in non-radar situations; we need a waiver or something like that to let us give pilots what they need (point to point direct clearances; ability to deviate around weather non-radar; ability to give direct clearances while non-radar e.g. Initial approach fixes or fixes to avoid military airspace.) with our rapidly deteriorating staffing situation; I'm not sure that we'll have the staffing during the summer to properly handle these situations.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZLC ARTCC mandated that controllers cannot approve weather deviations for aircraft not in radar coverage unless the aircraft is given special attention.

Narrative: Aircraft X was in level flight. There was weather between them and their destination that other aircraft had to deviate around earlier in the night. I issued the weather; and even though the pilot didn't see the weather; he still requested to deviate. We typically lose radar on aircraft at or below 12000 feet in this area and he was level at 8000 feet; but later requested 10000 feet. We had just been briefed earlier that we cannot issue weather deviations to non-radar aircraft. I was very worried that we would lose the aircraft on radar and I would have to declare an emergency on his behalf. This situation occupied my attention and while nothing unsafe happened; I would have been extremely distracted as I had an 'emergency in the making.' I was relieved from the sector before the aircraft went non-radar; so I'm not sure how this situation ended.There was nothing unsafe in the way we used to assign direct routes in non-radar situations; we need a waiver or something like that to let us give pilots what they need (point to point direct clearances; ability to deviate around weather non-radar; ability to give direct clearances while non-radar e.g. initial approach fixes or fixes to avoid military airspace.) With our rapidly deteriorating staffing situation; I'm not sure that we'll have the staffing during the summer to properly handle these situations.

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.