Some time ago we published a letter from a pilot who complained that ATC regularly vectored her toward mountains that rise over 4000 feet just 11 miles southwest of KAVL in Asheville, NC. Her single-engine airplane would wind up level with the ridgetops. Requests for a safer southerly route around the mountains were always denied. Upon request, ATC would vector her on course once they realized she was flirting with cumulogranite.
Then she discovered two Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODPs) at Asheville, one per runway end. She wrote us saying “these were not emphasized during my training.” She is not alone in not having learned much about departures.
