A B737 departed hou and was given vectors toward thunderstorms by the TRACON. The vectors were refus...

Narrative:

On our initial climbout from hou; we were assigned a southeasterly heading. The captain and I realized that we could not continue in that direction safely for very long due to several thunderstorm cells south and southeast of the airport. I was about to ask the controller for a different heading when another aircraft made a request on the frequency. After this; the departure controller cleared us direct to scholes. This was not on our flight plan; and we were not familiar with it. As I queried ATC about the clearance; the captain began to turn left (toward our filed course) assuming that it must be in that direction. The departure controller then amended the clearance to fly present heading. The captain stopped the turn to fly the present heading; and told me to inform the controller we could not continue in that direction due to thunderstorms. We were then reassigned direct to scholes and given the identifier vuh. Again the captain had me stress that we could not continue in that direction due to thunderstorms. The controller said that we had to due to traffic further to our left. We began our turn to vuh while trying to plan our way around the ominous looking cells. We were then given a frequency change to the hou center. The center controller cleared us direct to cew (on our original route); which took us well clear of the thunderstorms. The rest of the flight was uneventful. In retrospect; I should have requested a different heading earlier to allow more time to work out a solution to avoiding the cells. Also; I think the departure controllers should have given us clearer instructions initially; and then given us an alternative option to direct vuh. Obviously we would not have allowed the aircraft to be flown into a thunderstorm; but the situation is much more stressful when ATC is not helping you out. Perhaps communication could have been clearer with respect to everyone involved.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 departed HOU and was given vectors toward thunderstorms by the TRACON. The vectors were refused and a track taken to avoid the weather. When communications with Center were established a safe weather avoidance track was given.

Narrative: On our initial climbout from HOU; we were assigned a southeasterly heading. The Captain and I realized that we could not continue in that direction safely for very long due to several thunderstorm cells south and southeast of the airport. I was about to ask the Controller for a different heading when another aircraft made a request on the frequency. After this; the Departure Controller cleared us direct to SCHOLES. This was not on our flight plan; and we were not familiar with it. As I queried ATC about the clearance; the Captain began to turn left (toward our filed course) assuming that it must be in that direction. The Departure Controller then amended the clearance to fly present heading. The Captain stopped the turn to fly the present heading; and told me to inform the Controller we could not continue in that direction due to thunderstorms. We were then reassigned direct to SCHOLES and given the identifier VUH. Again the Captain had me stress that we could not continue in that direction due to thunderstorms. The Controller said that we had to due to traffic further to our left. We began our turn to VUH while trying to plan our way around the ominous looking cells. We were then given a frequency change to the HOU Center. The Center Controller cleared us direct to CEW (on our original route); which took us well clear of the thunderstorms. The rest of the flight was uneventful. In retrospect; I should have requested a different heading earlier to allow more time to work out a solution to avoiding the cells. Also; I think the Departure Controllers should have given us clearer instructions initially; and then given us an alternative option to direct VUH. Obviously we would not have allowed the aircraft to be flown into a thunderstorm; but the situation is much more stressful when ATC is not helping you out. Perhaps communication could have been clearer with respect to everyone involved.

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.

Attributes
ACN	899355
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	I90.TRACON
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 203 Flight Crew Type 2785
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 158 Flight Crew Type 10000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

A B737 departed hou and was given vectors toward thunderstorms by the TRACON. The vectors were refused and a track taken to avoid the weather. When communications with center were established a safe weather avoidance track was given.