Narrative:

Due to thunderstorm activity in the vicinity of our destination; prior to departure; I contacted ATC about delays into the baltimore area and was told there were none. We departed VFR and contacted approach to obtain an IFR clearance. Upon being handed off to washington center; the controller was very agitated and stated the baltimore area was shut down and asked in an accusatory manner if I had received a weather briefing prior to departure. Informed him I had; and also about my contact with ATC inquiring about delays. At that time I requested a deviation to the east to avoid weather in the ric area along our route. I requested direct orf. The controller cleared me direct hcm; which would still put me in weather so I told him I would be deviating further east around the weather. I was handed off at least once to another sector and made the same request; resulting in a clearance to another VOR; again a routing which still put me in weather. Again I informed the controller I would need to deviate further east. As I was finally clearing the weather the controller asked if I was proceeding direct the assigned fix. I stated I would be able in the next few miles to go direct. He said I needed to tell him if I was going to be deviating. I thought I had at least once but maybe I hadn't with all the handoffs and rerouting; and if I hadn't; apparently neither had the previous controller during the handoff. A couple of minutes later a B-737 informed ATC of a TCAS RA. I saw a 737 pass on our right but got no traffic alert from our TCAS system. If there was a conflict due to my deviation around weather it seems the controller could have descended us during the time between our last radio contact; when he said I had not informed him of my deviation; and the 737 passing by. As I continued north around the weather it turned out I was able to get into our destination; contrary to the first couple controllers' statements that all of the baltimore airports were 'shut down'.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C525 Captain expressed discontent with the manner in which ATC cooperated with his needs for weather diversions.

Narrative: Due to thunderstorm activity in the vicinity of our destination; prior to departure; I contacted ATC about delays into the Baltimore area and was told there were none. We departed VFR and contacted approach to obtain an IFR clearance. Upon being handed off to Washington center; the Controller was very agitated and stated the Baltimore area was shut down and asked in an accusatory manner if I had received a weather briefing prior to departure. Informed him I had; and also about my contact with ATC inquiring about delays. At that time I requested a deviation to the east to avoid weather in the RIC area along our route. I requested direct ORF. The Controller cleared me direct HCM; which would still put me in weather so I told him I would be deviating further east around the weather. I was handed off at least once to another sector and made the same request; resulting in a clearance to another VOR; again a routing which still put me in weather. Again I informed the Controller I would need to deviate further east. As I was finally clearing the weather the Controller asked if I was proceeding direct the assigned fix. I stated I would be able in the next few miles to go direct. He said I needed to tell him if I was going to be deviating. I thought I had at least once but maybe I hadn't with all the handoffs and rerouting; and if I hadn't; apparently neither had the previous Controller during the handoff. A couple of minutes later a B-737 informed ATC of a TCAS RA. I saw a 737 pass on our right but got no traffic alert from our TCAS system. If there was a conflict due to my deviation around weather it seems the Controller could have descended us during the time between our last radio contact; when he said I had not informed him of my deviation; and the 737 passing by. As I continued north around the weather it turned out I was able to get into our destination; contrary to the first couple controllers' statements that all of the Baltimore airports were 'Shut down'.

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.