Light Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness; Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Workload
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Airspace Structure; Weather; Staffing; Procedure; Human Factors
Due to weather in my sector; several aircraft were deviating to the South; to get around it. Aircraft X was advised of the weather in front of him; and was advised to expect a left deviation if necessary. Both the previous controller and myself; the relieving controller; advised him that we would not be able to approve a right deviation and to plan for a left deviation. We also offered him several fixes; that would help keep him clear of the worst weather depicted. He asked several times to deviate right; but due to Standard Operating Procedures; traffic flow; and active military airspace to the West; the best routing to allow for a deviation (for ATC) would have been to the left. Eventually he informed me that he could not take a left deviation because he was 'going to be minimum fuel soon' and needed to go right. I tried to accomodate his request - and as I was on the line coordinating with an adjacent sector to see if they could approve him southwestbound at 34;000 feet (wrong altitude for direction and against our Standard Operating Procedure) I heard him [notify ATC of urgency] on my air to ground line. He never officially declared minimum fuel; just [notified ATC of the situation] and stated he was flying a 260 degree heading to avoid weather. I approved deviations; got a d - side; alerted the supervisor; asked if he needed assistance; and asked if he would like to divert to an alternate. He stated that he wanted to continue on to his destination and had 1 hour and 20 minutes left of fuel. As soon as he was clear of the weather; he wanted to turn back on course and become 'normal status' again; or as I took it to mean; not an emergency. After he returned on course and all the necessary coordination was complete; I stated that I would show him as 'minimum fuel'. My D side accomplished all necessary coordination and he was eventually shipped to sector 37 and was back on course with no other issues. I believe there was a breakdown in communication during this scenario that led to the escalation of this event. Though the previous controller did brief me on the weather; it was not clear that this specific aircraft had indicated several times already that he did not want to accept a left deviation. After reviewing a replay; I realized that this aircraft had already been having a discussion about his options with the previous controller. In addition; I believe the pilot did not effectively communicate his status with me; going from mentioning low fuel to emergency status in about a minute; and never stating the nature of the [issue]. To be fair; I did not explicitly ask that question; as I understood that his low fuel situation would not allow him to deviate where I wanted him to go; and the only way he could legally deviate from my control instruction was to [deal with a situation] as stated in FAR 91.203. I do believe that if he had declared minimum fuel first; I would have been able to accomplish coordination quickly enough to be able to allow him to deviate as he needed to; without ever having anyone [notifying ATC of the situation]. Frequency congestion due to a multitude of aircraft deviations led to me not being able to speak with him further to get a more clear picture of what he needed. Also; if I had been able to ask the nature of the emergency; we may have been able to clarify (is it for weather or fuel?) and then offer better assistance. Although everyone stayed safe and legal; I do believe this situation could have been handled better on both sides (pilot/controller). My supervisor did a great job of getting me the assistance I needed in a very timely manner.
An aircraft needed to deviate for weather. The Controller would only approve weather deviations to the south. The aircraft could not accept the south deviation due to the increased flying miles that would cause them to not have enough fuel to reach their destination. The Controller who had just taken over at the sector did not realize this issue. The aircraft declared 'Critical Fuel' and deviated to the west on their own and advised ATC.