<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1183818, June 2014

During preflight a confused corporate jet pilot assigned runway 4L questioned ATC about the mdw 9 departure initial climb verbiage 'right turn to 2;400' which appeared to conflict with the routing verbiage 'maintain 3;000 ft or assigned lower altitude.'

Attributes
ACN	1183818
Time
Date	201406
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	MDW.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	SID Midway Nine
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Aero Charts
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 75 Flight Crew Total 3700 Flight Crew Type 2700
Events
Anomaly	No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types

Narrative:

We were assigned the midway nine departure from runway 4L at mdw airport. Upon review of the SID (on the ground) we were unable to decipher what its intent was; so I queried ATC. The procedure off 4L/right reads 'northbound departures assigned headings 360 clockwise through 080; climbing right turn to 2;400 ft heading 100 before proceeding on course.' lower on the plate in the routing window the initial altitude is listed as 3;000 ft. The initial climb instructions for 4L/right are absolutely undecipherable and ridiculous. I asked mdw tower (before our departure) what its intent was and they said that even they couldn't figure it out. This SID needs to be updated immediately to read in plain english. When an FAA facility that controls the airspace cannot understand the procedure something is wrong.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: During preflight a confused Corporate Jet pilot assigned Runway 4L questioned ATC about the MDW 9 Departure INITIAL CLIMB verbiage 'RIGHT turn to 2;400' which appeared to conflict with the ROUTING verbiage 'MAINTAIN 3;000 FT or assigned lower altitude.'

Narrative: We were assigned the Midway Nine Departure from Runway 4L at MDW Airport. Upon review of the SID (on the ground) we were unable to decipher what its intent was; so I queried ATC. The procedure off 4L/R reads 'NORTHBOUND departures assigned headings 360 clockwise through 080; climbing RIGHT turn to 2;400 FT heading 100 before proceeding on course.' Lower on the plate in the ROUTING window the initial altitude is listed as 3;000 FT. The initial climb instructions for 4L/R are absolutely undecipherable and ridiculous. I asked MDW Tower (before our departure) what its intent was and they said that even they couldn't figure it out. This SID needs to be updated immediately to read in plain English. When an FAA facility that controls the airspace cannot understand the procedure something is wrong.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.