Air carrier aircraft on vectors for ord runways 9R and 10 reported moderate icing from 4;000 ft to t...

Narrative:

On approach to [runway] 9R; we were advised of moderate icing at 4;000 ft to the surface. We requested to level at 5;000 ft for icing. Controller denied request and instructed us to maintain 4;000 ft. 500 ft up or down would have put us out of most of the icing; but the tops were right at 4;000 ft; like they usually are. It's ridiculous that they are so inflexible with their procedures that they can't adjust the altitude by a thousand or even 500 ft when every single aircraft is reporting moderate icing. [The] same thing [happens] every year; all season long. Drop to 4;000 ft in the icing while over the lake and cruise all the way west of ord before being turned on the approach. Do we really need to wait for a smoking hole in the ground before anybody is willing to look at these procedures?

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier aircraft on vectors for ORD Runways 9R and 10 reported moderate icing from 4;000 FT to the surface; so an A320 crew requested vectoring at 5;000 FT; but ATC denied the request.

Narrative: On approach to [Runway] 9R; we were advised of moderate icing at 4;000 FT to the surface. We requested to level at 5;000 FT for icing. Controller denied request and instructed us to maintain 4;000 FT. 500 FT up or down would have put us out of most of the icing; but the tops were right at 4;000 FT; like they usually are. It's ridiculous that they are so inflexible with their procedures that they can't adjust the altitude by a thousand or even 500 FT when every single aircraft is reporting moderate icing. [The] same thing [happens] every year; all season long. Drop to 4;000 FT in the icing while over the lake and cruise all the way west of ORD before being turned on the approach. Do we really need to wait for a smoking hole in the ground before anybody is willing to look at these procedures?

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	981663
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ORD.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 15000 Flight Crew Type 5000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Air carrier aircraft on vectors for ord runways 9R and 10 reported moderate icing from 4;000 ft to the surface; so an A320 crew requested vectoring at 5;000 ft; but ATC denied the request.