A B757 crew is cautioned by ATC for deviating around weather without receiving a clearance to do so.

Attributes
ACN	955589
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZID.ARTCC
State Reference	IN
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 45 Flight Crew Total 10500 Flight Crew Type 6000
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 8000 Flight Crew Type 2500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Departure control gave us freedom to deviate around weather as necessary and to contact indianapolis center. After contacting indianapolis center; we were given direct to gsp. A short time later; we deviated approximately 5 degrees to the left of course for weather for approximately 20 miles without requesting clearance from center. We had in our minds the clearance from departure control that we could deviate as necessary. After deviating and starting to proceed direct again; center asked us if we were deviating. We said the previous controller had given us free to deviate and center reminded us that our last clearance from him was direct gsp which we had accepted.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 Crew is cautioned by ATC for deviating around weather without receiving a clearance to do so.

Narrative: Departure Control gave us freedom to deviate around weather as necessary and to contact Indianapolis Center. After contacting Indianapolis Center; we were given direct to GSP. A short time later; we deviated approximately 5 degrees to the left of course for weather for approximately 20 miles without requesting clearance from Center. We had in our minds the clearance from Departure Control that we could deviate as necessary. After deviating and starting to proceed direct again; Center asked us if we were deviating. We said the previous controller had given us free to deviate and Center reminded us that our last clearance from him was direct GSP which we had accepted.

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.