Narrative:

I was given an IFR clearance from gatlinburg. I did not hear a departure procedure in the clearance and do not believe I read back one. I understood I was cleared as filed; depart runway 10; contact departure; and climb to 5;000 ft. I may have said runway 10 departure but don't believe I mentioned any procedure in my read back and was referencing the direction of my departure. I did not see a departure procedure in my preflight planning; so would not have anticipated one. As soon as I departed I contacted ATC and had to reset my transponder. He identified me and asked me if I was following the departure procedure. I believe I told him that I was on runway heading. He told me to go to a fix that I did not immediately have the identifier for. I asked for a heading to expedite the process while I found the correct departure procedure. The controller then told me that I was approaching a 6;000 ft MEA and needed to climb and turn immediately. He had a very strong sense of urgency in his voice. I continued climbing and initiated a left turn while looking for imminent obstructions or terrain. I was in VMC and able to maintain complete terrain avoidance. The heading I believe he assigned was 350 degrees. I believe I reached for the heading bug on the HSI and in the haste of missing a departure procedure; managing a maximum climb; looking for obstructions; finding the correct diagram; and turning on to the assigned heading; I must have pushed the heading bug knob turning the compass card and the heading bug at the same time. I followed the heading on my HSI but was going south west instead of north west. The controller identified me on the wrong heading and told me to turn again and exclaimed that the MEA ahead was 8;000 ft. When he made this statement I immediately looked at my HSI and saw the correct first assigned heading but looked further and saw on my GPS that I was indeed going the wrong direction. I told him that I was in VMC with terrain avoidance ability and that I had a heading issue. He gave me a new heading and I used the GPS to proceed as assigned. Once on the assigned heading I reset the HSI to the correct heading and proceeded with no further errors.I missed the departure procedure in my preflight. This occurred because I knew the airport as gatlinburg - pigeon forge. On my approach plates I normally see the complete name of the airport in the upper right hand corner. There is usually the town name and the trade name. The town name is always the actual location followed by something like memorial field or a person's name. In this case the actual town name is not listed in that location and the trade name is a town. When I looked for any other applicable procedures in my preflight I looked under gatlinburg and then under pigeon forge. I found none and therefore did not expect or hear a departure procedure in the clearance.the controller conveyed very strongly that there was an imminent danger of impacting terrain. I prioritized my attention and since I had the advantage of being clear of clouds I initiated best climb rate; visually looking for obstructions; initiating the turn; communicating and lastly data and equipment manipulation. I believe I made the error in manipulating the heading bug knob while initiating the turn and looking outside the cockpit.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A light twin pilot departed GKT Runway 10 and did not understand an obstacle departure was prescribed so upon contacting ATC; he was urgently vectored toward a safe departure corridor as he attempted to climb to the MEA.

Narrative: I was given an IFR clearance from Gatlinburg. I did not hear a departure procedure in the clearance and do not believe I read back one. I understood I was cleared as filed; depart Runway 10; contact Departure; and climb to 5;000 FT. I may have said Runway 10 departure but don't believe I mentioned any procedure in my read back and was referencing the direction of my departure. I did not see a departure procedure in my preflight planning; so would not have anticipated one. As soon as I departed I contacted ATC and had to reset my transponder. He identified me and asked me if I was following the departure procedure. I believe I told him that I was on runway heading. He told me to go to a fix that I did not immediately have the identifier for. I asked for a heading to expedite the process while I found the correct departure procedure. The Controller then told me that I was approaching a 6;000 FT MEA and needed to climb and turn immediately. He had a very strong sense of urgency in his voice. I continued climbing and initiated a left turn while looking for imminent obstructions or terrain. I was in VMC and able to maintain complete terrain avoidance. The heading I believe he assigned was 350 degrees. I believe I reached for the heading bug on the HSI and in the haste of missing a departure procedure; managing a maximum climb; looking for obstructions; finding the correct diagram; and turning on to the assigned heading; I must have pushed the heading bug knob turning the compass card and the heading bug at the same time. I followed the heading on my HSI but was going south west instead of north west. The Controller identified me on the wrong heading and told me to turn again and exclaimed that the MEA ahead was 8;000 FT. When he made this statement I immediately looked at my HSI and saw the correct first assigned heading but looked further and saw on my GPS that I was indeed going the wrong direction. I told him that I was in VMC with terrain avoidance ability and that I had a heading issue. He gave me a new heading and I used the GPS to proceed as assigned. Once on the assigned heading I reset the HSI to the correct heading and proceeded with no further errors.I missed the departure procedure in my preflight. This occurred because I knew the airport as Gatlinburg - Pigeon Forge. On my approach plates I normally see the complete name of the airport in the upper right hand corner. There is usually the town name and the trade name. The town name is always the actual location followed by something like Memorial Field or a person's name. In this case the actual town name is not listed in that location and the trade name is a town. When I looked for any other applicable procedures in my preflight I looked under Gatlinburg and then under Pigeon Forge. I found none and therefore did not expect or hear a departure procedure in the clearance.The Controller conveyed very strongly that there was an imminent danger of impacting terrain. I prioritized my attention and since I had the advantage of being clear of clouds I initiated best climb rate; visually looking for obstructions; initiating the turn; communicating and lastly data and equipment manipulation. I believe I made the error in manipulating the heading bug knob while initiating the turn and looking outside the cockpit.

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.