A fire fighting aircraft departing a southern california airport is given a heading to fly on climbo...

Attributes
ACN	1272326
Time
Date	201506
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 137
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 5700 Flight Crew Type 200
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Miss Distance	Horizontal 2500 Vertical 700

Narrative:

After departure from [a southern california airport] on a fire dispatch we contacted socal approach for flight following to a fire in northern california. Plan was to climb to 14;500 feet; proceed direct to lando intersection then direct to the fire. This would keep us clear of restricted airspace. The initial climb would be up cahone pass to avoid terrain. Once terrain was cleared; turn direct lando. Upon check in with socal approach right after takeoff; they directed us to fly heading 360 for traffic. We complied; we were in clear VFR conditions and could recognize we were not going to out climb the terrain. We held heading 360 for as long as we felt we could maintain it. I instructed my first officer to contact socal and inform them we needed to deviate to avoid the terrain; and started a slight left turn (30-40 degree left turn) to parallel the hills. We maintained a distance of less than 1/2 mile from the mountains; still below the ridge line. Socal approach got after us for deviating from heading 360. Our terrain warning system was in the red pull up mode this whole time. Once we were able to clear the terrain we informed socal approach that we could now return to heading 360. The controller informed us we were on our own. I am pretty sure he never realized how close to the hills we were. Saving grace was that we were in daylight hours with clear air and visability unrestricted. Otherwise I don't think the outcome would have been good.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A fire fighting aircraft departing a Southern California airport is given a heading to fly on climbout that conflicts with terrain. ATC scolds them after they deviate; while trying to advise ATC of the terrain conflict.

Narrative: After departure from [a southern California airport] on a fire dispatch we contacted SoCal approach for flight following to a fire in Northern California. Plan was to climb to 14;500 feet; proceed direct to LANDO intersection then direct to the fire. This would keep us clear of restricted airspace. The initial climb would be up Cahone pass to avoid terrain. Once terrain was cleared; turn direct LANDO. Upon check in with socal approach right after takeoff; they directed us to fly heading 360 for traffic. We complied; we were in clear VFR conditions and could recognize we were not going to out climb the terrain. We held heading 360 for as long as we felt we could maintain it. I instructed my First Officer to contact socal and inform them we needed to deviate to avoid the terrain; and started a slight left turn (30-40 degree left turn) to parallel the hills. We maintained a distance of less than 1/2 mile from the mountains; still below the ridge line. SoCal approach got after us For deviating from heading 360. Our terrain warning system was in the red pull up mode this whole time. Once we were able to clear the terrain we informed SoCal approach that we could now return to heading 360. The controller informed us we were on our own. I am pretty sure he never realized how close to the hills we were. Saving grace was that we were in daylight hours with clear air and visability unrestricted. Otherwise I don't think the outcome would have been good.

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.

A fire fighting aircraft departing a southern california airport is given a heading to fly on climbout that conflicts with terrain. ATC scolds them after they deviate; while trying to advise ATC of the terrain conflict.