Narrative:

Weather is in and out of clouds; occasional light to moderate turbulence and dark. An area of weather is shown by the radar overlaying our route from east to west. After some discussion about the best route around the weather; a request is made by cpdlc to deviate left of course up to 20 NM. Clearance is received at XA24z and we deviate to the full 20 NM left of course. As we approach the weather; it continues to develop and extend. The individual storm cells begin to become one solid line that forms somewhere on the left behind us and extends diagonally to our 2 o'clock position. Lighting is visible and frequent. At XA30z we make a request to deviate now to the right of course 30 NM and the aircraft is turned to the right back toward the center line of the airway. At XA32z our request is denied because of traffic; but we are cleared to deviate left for 30 NM. At XA33z we inform ATC that we are unable left deviations; that we must deviate right and reiterate our request for right deviations. There is no response by cpdlc.we continue our flight toward and across the airway centerline. Along the way; we turn on all exterior lights and begin to broadcast on guard pan pan pan; approximate position; altitude; and deviating for weather. We discuss changing altitude; but end up remaining at our assigned altitude and monitoring TCAS. At some point during this time we receive a call from ATC on guard to not enter restricted airspace. Subsequently at XA44z; we receive a cpdlc message 'unable; right side; due to airspace restriction.' we are already clearing the corner of the weather and are turning back to the airway. We report over guard that we are clear of the weather. At XA52z we are uplinked a message to report back on route and request a position report. At XA54z we cpdlc a back on route report.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B777-200 flight crew took emergency avoidance action in oceanic airspace to circumnavigate thunderstorms when they were unable to get a timely clearance to do so.

Narrative: Weather is in and out of clouds; occasional light to moderate turbulence and dark. An area of weather is shown by the radar overlaying our route from east to west. After some discussion about the best route around the weather; a request is made by CPDLC to deviate left of course up to 20 NM. Clearance is received at XA24z and we deviate to the full 20 NM left of course. As we approach the weather; it continues to develop and extend. The individual storm cells begin to become one solid line that forms somewhere on the left behind us and extends diagonally to our 2 o'clock position. Lighting is visible and frequent. At XA30z we make a request to deviate now to the right of course 30 NM and the aircraft is turned to the right back toward the center line of the airway. At XA32z our request is denied because of traffic; but we are cleared to deviate left for 30 NM. At XA33z we inform ATC that we are unable left deviations; that we must deviate right and reiterate our request for right deviations. There is no response by CPDLC.We continue our flight toward and across the airway centerline. Along the way; we turn on all exterior lights and begin to broadcast on guard Pan Pan Pan; approximate position; altitude; and deviating for weather. We discuss changing altitude; but end up remaining at our assigned altitude and monitoring TCAS. At some point during this time we receive a call from ATC on guard to not enter restricted airspace. Subsequently at XA44z; we receive a CPDLC message 'UNABLE; RIGHT SIDE; DUE TO AIRSPACE RESTRICTION.' We are already clearing the corner of the weather and are turning back to the airway. We report over guard that we are clear of the weather. At XA52z we are uplinked a message to report back on route and request a position report. At XA54z we CPDLC a back on route report.

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.