Narrative:

On arrival into slc airspace on the watts three RNAV arrival. 14;000 ft assigned speed of 210 KTS; we were descended to 12;000 ft passing oquir intersection and handed off to the next controller frequency. The weather radar was showing heavy to extreme precipitation returns over pittt intersection (radar was set to 2.0 degrees of elevation at 10 miles and gain was set to '-1') the approach controller was obviously a trainee who appeared to be having difficulty managing the metering and flow of traffic on the arrival as he was making mistake after mistake and correcting as well as being corrected by the supervisor (who you could here in the background on the open microphone). We asked him if what the previous traffic had reported going through this area and what it was because of the conditions we were seeing. He responded that he had 'no complaints and a bunch of boeing had gone through the area at 10;000 ft.' at this point we encountered severe turbulence and requested an immediate descent and were told that the lowest we could be assigned was 11;000 ft and 190 KTS; which we immediately initiated a descent to. Upon reaching 11;000 ft we were engulfed in heavy to extreme precipitation; as well as severe turbulence. We requested an immediate vector away from the cell as the conditions were worsening; at which time the ATC trainee responded with 'uhhhhh....I can only offer you a vector to 090 degrees......ummmmm;' (which was the only viable option as a turn to any other heading would have been a turn into the storm and terrain). At this point; the aircraft received a lightning strike; I then initiated a turn to 090 and told the non-flying pilot to advise ATC we were turning east and had taken a lightning strike. At this point we were cleared to turn to 070; descend to 9000 ft and intercept the localizer for runway 34R. The supervisor then overrode the trainee and followed up with a turn to 310 and a clearance to fly the ILS 34R approach. The approach encountered scattered rain and some light wind shear; but landed without incident. Upon post flight inspection; the aircraft showed positive signs of a lightning strike incident and was removed from service and sent for maintenance inspection. This incident could have well been avoided by having a controller for this sector that could handle the metering and flow of aircraft and developing situation with the weather. This is a consistent problem in the slc TRACON area as trainees seem to be unable to manage the airspace and constantly are having to be overrode by the supervisor. While we all realize that real life training is required for ATC; a situation like this should not be forced upon pilots and the flying public because ATC does not recognize the developing situation and the supervisor was slow to react to our reports.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier on descent into SLC; described severe turbulence encounter and lightning strike event; alleging Controllers' handling and on going ATC training as factors contributing to the incident.

Narrative: On arrival into SLC airspace on the WATTS Three RNAV arrival. 14;000 FT assigned speed of 210 KTS; we were descended to 12;000 FT passing OQUIR Intersection and handed off to the next controller frequency. The weather radar was showing heavy to extreme precipitation returns over PITTT Intersection (Radar was set to 2.0 degrees of elevation at 10 miles and gain was set to '-1') The Approach Controller was obviously a trainee who appeared to be having difficulty managing the metering and flow of traffic on the arrival as he was making mistake after mistake and correcting as well as being corrected by the Supervisor (who you could here in the background on the open microphone). We asked him if what the previous traffic had reported going through this area and what it was because of the conditions we were seeing. He responded that he had 'no complaints and a bunch of Boeing had gone through the area at 10;000 FT.' At this point we encountered severe turbulence and requested an immediate descent and were told that the lowest we could be assigned was 11;000 FT and 190 KTS; which we immediately initiated a descent to. Upon reaching 11;000 FT we were engulfed in heavy to extreme precipitation; as well as severe turbulence. We requested an immediate vector away from the cell as the conditions were worsening; at which time the ATC Trainee responded with 'Uhhhhh....I can only offer you a vector to 090 degrees......ummmmm;' (which was the only viable option as a turn to any other heading would have been a turn into the storm and terrain). At this point; the aircraft received a lightning strike; I then initiated a turn to 090 and told the non-flying pilot to advise ATC we were turning east and had taken a lightning strike. At this point we were cleared to turn to 070; descend to 9000 FT and intercept the localizer for Runway 34R. The Supervisor then overrode the trainee and followed up with a turn to 310 and a clearance to fly the ILS 34R approach. The approach encountered scattered rain and some light wind shear; but landed without incident. Upon post flight inspection; the aircraft showed positive signs of a lightning strike incident and was removed from service and sent for maintenance inspection. This incident could have well been avoided by having a controller for this sector that could handle the metering and flow of aircraft and developing situation with the weather. This is a consistent problem in the SLC TRACON area as trainees seem to be unable to manage the airspace and constantly are having to be overrode by the Supervisor. While we all realize that real life training is required for ATC; a situation like this should not be forced upon pilots and the flying public because ATC does not recognize the developing situation and the Supervisor was slow to react to our reports.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.