I believe the rule is that if there is a departure procedure
published, fly the departure procedure.

If there is an approach chart published, but but no departure
procedure, the rule is no turns before 400' AGL, and maintain 200 FPNM
and you will be clear of obstructions.

No approach plate, you are on your own.

Does this not cover everything?


On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:37:12 -0800 (PST), "Robert M. Gary"
wrote:

On Jan 14, 9:50*am, "J.Kahn" wrote:
Mxsmanic wrote:
Yesterday I tried to plan a flight from Big Bear City (California) to Santa
Monica, in a Bonanza. *The routing I worked out was L35..DAWNA.V8.PDZ.V186
TIFNI.ELMOO.DARTS..KSMO. *DAWNA is on a portion of the airway that shows a MEA
of 10500 on the chart. *Since I was westbound, I figured to climb to 12000. *I
planned to depart from runway 26. *My calculations showed that the Bonanza
could carry out this climb.

My question is: *How do I make sure that I don't hit anything between the
runway and the first fix on my filed route? *The ODP for Big Bear only gives
details for runway 8, and says "N/A" for runway 26. *The only departure
procedure is an obstacle departure, also for runway 8. *So what's the proper
way for me to plan a flight so that I don't run into anything between the time
I leave runway 26 and the time I reach DAWNA? *Should I use a VFR sectional?
Is there something on en-route IFR charts that I'm missing? *Did I overlook
something in the Instrument Procedures Handbook (it seems surprisingly vague
on this)?

If no instrument departure gradients are published in a departure
procedure, then the default gradient requirement applies, which is 200
ft/NM.

Huh? The FAA guarantees you won't hit anything when you are not flying
a procedure as long as you climb at 200 ft/nm? I think you are mixing
up two different things. When there is no procedure in place for
departure you grab your sectional and plan a route. Lots of airports
don't even appear in the approach manual.

-robert, CFII