Golden Eagle 421
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 125; Flight Crew Total 10800; Flight Crew Type 1550
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Airport; Procedure
Airport is surrounded by towers and has a very specific departure procedure. When departing Runway 12; it requires the pilot to fly heading 124 degrees until leaving 2;600 feet before turning on course. In the event of a Runway 12 missed approach; the pilot is required to climb to 800 feet and then turn left to a heading of 316 degrees and climb to 2;900.This morning; ATC gave as departure instructions; 'entering controlled airspace; turn left heading 010 for obstructions'. I was not comfortable with this as there are antennas due east of the field that are 670 to 1;560 feet high that I had to fly by while in this turn. The outbound 124 heading provides guaranteed clearance with all obstacles without guessing if your turn is tight enough to miss the various antennas. If traffic was an issue and made the controller issue this departure clearance; I'd have been happy to wait for traffic to clear if he'd advised this was the situation. I feel after making this departure and coming out of the cloud tops and seeing how close I was to some of the antennas; that I should maybe have specifically requested the published departure procedure. I have found FAA published procedures are far more trustworthy and safer than the typical air traffic controller being certified now. However; I would also guess that this particular controller is not even aware of the published departure procedures for the local airports.
C421 Captain questions an ATC clearance departing Runway 12 at JVW to 'turn left heading 010 for obstructions upon entering controlled airspace'; but accepts the clearance. He believes that the published obstacle departure procedure would be far safer for avoiding the 1;560 foot tower to the southeast of the field.