Narrative:

While taxiing out of the ramp at mco; the captain and I talked about the build-ups that looked about ten miles to the north of the airport. As we took runway 36R; for a departure to 5;000 ft; heading 010; I made sure my radar was on and ready to get an accurate picture of the weather ahead of us. After we cleaned up; I requested a left turn to about 270 so we could stay south of the weather and the controller replied that we could expect a turn in about three miles. As we neared the weather (which I am not sure the controller was painting) and wanted to turn; the controller got to us too late and we were unable to safely execute the turn to the west without flying through the build-ups. I then requested a heading of 020 as we were cleared to 8;000 and the controller still insisted that we make a left turn through the build-ups. The captain determined that the safest course of action at this point was to make a 270 degree right turn back on the east side of the weather we were approaching and he let the controller know that. The controller asked; 'state your intentions' and the captain replied to stay clear of the clouds (build-ups). We safely initiated the 270; avoided the build-ups and were then assigned a course of 240. At no time did we bust an altitude or airspeed or compromise the safety of our crew and passengers. There was a SIGMET reported on the taxi out and another from jax center from omn to mia so there was no doubt as to the weather. What was surprising is that the controller would accept none of the options that we offered to avoid the clouds. I was on the verge of declaring an emergency (with the captain's concurrence) and could not believe we were getting so much resistance not to fly through well defined and painting build-ups on our radar. Needless to say; I shall not allow myself to be put in this situation again. One thing that struck me as odd was the controller giving us a phone number for what he stated was a 'potential pilot violation.' our course of action was for the safe conduct of our flight and we made multiple suggestions to the controller for ways we could stay out of the weather. We could see the build-ups out of the cockpit and on the radar and were not going to be vectored through this line of weather. There is no doubt in my mind that accepting vectors through the weather would have been conducting the flight in an imprudent and unsafe manner.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 First Officer reports difficulty coordinating a weather deviation with ATC after takeoff from MCO. A requested left turn was approved too late to remain clear; eventually a 270 degree right turn was approved.

Narrative: While taxiing out of the ramp at MCO; the Captain and I talked about the build-ups that looked about ten miles to the north of the airport. As we took Runway 36R; for a departure to 5;000 FT; heading 010; I made sure my radar was on and ready to get an accurate picture of the weather ahead of us. After we cleaned up; I requested a left turn to about 270 so we could stay south of the weather and the Controller replied that we could expect a turn in about three miles. As we neared the weather (which I am not sure the Controller was painting) and wanted to turn; the Controller got to us too late and we were unable to safely execute the turn to the west without flying through the build-ups. I then requested a heading of 020 as we were cleared to 8;000 and the Controller still insisted that we make a left turn through the build-ups. The Captain determined that the safest course of action at this point was to make a 270 degree right turn back on the east side of the weather we were approaching and he let the Controller know that. The Controller asked; 'State your intentions' and the Captain replied to stay clear of the clouds (build-ups). We safely initiated the 270; avoided the build-ups and were then assigned a course of 240. At no time did we bust an altitude or airspeed or compromise the safety of our crew and passengers. There was a SIGMET reported on the taxi out and another from JAX Center from OMN to MIA so there was no doubt as to the weather. What was surprising is that the Controller would accept none of the options that we offered to avoid the clouds. I was on the verge of declaring an emergency (with the Captain's concurrence) and could not believe we were getting so much resistance not to fly through well defined and painting build-ups on our radar. Needless to say; I shall not allow myself to be put in this situation again. One thing that struck me as odd was the controller giving us a phone number for what he stated was a 'potential pilot violation.' Our course of action was for the safe conduct of our flight and we made multiple suggestions to the controller for ways we could stay out of the weather. We could see the build-ups out of the cockpit and on the radar and were not going to be vectored through this line of weather. There is no doubt in my mind that accepting vectors through the weather would have been conducting the flight in an imprudent and unsafe manner.

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.