"Chip Jones" wrote in message
ink.net...


When would an ODP ever be specifically issued unless more than one
procedure
was available and traffic separation depended on which one you flew?

Well, how about if my life depended on flying it?

That's the issue - that it is perfectly fine to depart IFR using visual
terrain avoidance. That ODP's are not specifically
issued/suggested/etc/otherwise to ensure the safest egress from a facility
bordered by mountains; that's just wrong...to me.

The last instruction I received was "proceed on course, contact departure."
That was a left turn to fly the clearance issued routing. The ODP calls for
a right turn. The delta is almost 80 degrees combined - a heading of 140
vice 220.

So, when I contacted the tower later, I asked why a heading of 220 wasn't
mentioned or suggested. Is "proceed on course" really the most appropriate
instruction instead of something like "fly heading 220, contact departure"?
The answer was more or less:

oh no, people make the left turn all the time, maintain there own visual
separation with the terrain, no problem. Why would we suggest a right turn?
Besides, if you turn right according to the ODP and don't tell us, you might
cause an issue with arriving traffic into the pattern (for the VFR tower).
If we're not expecting that by you having made the request, that could be
bad. Oh, but by the way, the military guys always turn right because
they're required to fly the ODP, but we know that and expect it. But the
choice is yours, just tell us, and we'll coordinate that with the APPCON.

Is there a certain percentage of misconception among some pilots that they
might get a bit more help than that when departing IFR from a towered
facility? I think so. I think it might be far safer if the pilot was
required to waive the ODP instead of the other way around. I also think the
instruction to proceed on course is so ambiguous as to be dangerous, but
that's just imho.