>I too believed in ATC one day flying with my kids without any radar . >I was told I was good to go, at 20,000' I entered a cell came out at >6,000' .I now have WSI and fly away from weather . greg

Reminds me of a trip south from New York to DC a couple years ago with my family in my Club's Cardinal.  My stormscope showed a significant cell on the route.  I asked ATC for vectors around it, and they said something like "yeah, looks like a cell at XYZ degrees; fly XYZ+30 degrees and we'll get you on course as soon as you're clear."  Several minutes later they cleared me to a course direct to my destination.  I suggested that my stormscope showed that this heading would put me only about 10 miles west of the cell.  They replied, "yeah, that's probably about right, ok, continue on XYZ+30 and I'll turn you left in another 10 minutes or so."  I wanted a wider berth than 10 miles.

This experience convinced me never to fly IFR when thunderstorms are forecast without onboard weather information that works, and to always be suspicious of ATC advice and check it carefully with the onboard weather info.

Does anyone know if Wendell had a working stormscope or other onboard weather information?