Narrative:

This instance occurred in a helicopter capable of a present position departure from a non movement area. Upon contracting ground; I requested a departure to the west after stating I was located at the ramp of [name removed]. Ground responded with 'cleared downwind departure from present position stay clear of class charlie airspace.' I responded by repeating the call verbatim. I was not given any further commands nor told to standby or remain at current location; and since I was told my departure clearance I began to lift. I departed east initially into the wind; careful to avoid the runway centerline to ensure collision avoidance. After takeoff the controller informed me I had committed a deviation because I had not been handed to tower. I requested a right turn to downwind to avoid any possible traffic. I was granted permission then told to call tower; while still not on tower frequency. I was then told to contact tower frequency. After making contact tower frequency cleared my departure from airspace and requested I call a number after reaching my destination. Although my departure was premature given I hadn't contacted tower; I believe the heart of this issue was ground giving flight instructions and also not giving a subsequent frequency change to tower. Aside from this instance; I have always contacted ground with present position and current info and been immediately assigned a tower frequency or a clearance via a taxiway. Under ground control I was not given any sort of ground movement instructions; so I believe should have been immediately handed to tower with my request. Again; I do not believe ground should issue a flight instruction. One other factor to this was that the previous afternoon I had contacted ground for a reposition on the airfield. At that time the frequency was receiving ground; but also broadcasting tower commands. (For instance I made my ground movement request but could here tower commands to an aircraft on downwind.) when the event in question occurred; I did think it strange that a flight clearance was given from ground; but given the night before I was hearing tower commands from this channel; I unfortunately assumed that this was also a command from tower. Upon reaching my destination I contacted tower via phone and they stated the situation and that I had deviated because I departed without tower contact. I explained my reasoning and they were very considerate. They did make mention of an archer on a one mile final that could have become an issue; but I feel that by staying clear of the runway at all times the risk of collision was very low.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Helicopter Pilot reports of being issued a clearance for departure and not being given a frequency change or told to contact Tower. When the pilot departed and was airborne they were chastised for not talking to Local Control before departing.

Narrative: This instance occurred in a helicopter capable of a present position departure from a non movement area. Upon contracting ground; I requested a departure to the west after stating I was located at the ramp of [name removed]. Ground responded with 'Cleared downwind departure from present position stay clear of Class Charlie airspace.' I responded by repeating the call verbatim. I was not given any further commands nor told to standby or remain at current location; and since I was told my departure clearance I began to lift. I departed east initially into the wind; careful to avoid the runway centerline to ensure collision avoidance. After takeoff the controller informed me I had committed a deviation because I had not been handed to tower. I requested a right turn to downwind to avoid any possible traffic. I was granted permission then told to call tower; while still not on tower frequency. I was then told to contact tower frequency. After making contact tower frequency cleared my departure from airspace and requested I call a number after reaching my destination. Although my departure was premature given I hadn't contacted tower; I believe the heart of this issue was ground giving flight instructions and also not giving a subsequent frequency change to tower. Aside from this instance; I have always contacted ground with present position and current info and been immediately assigned a tower frequency or a clearance via a taxiway. Under ground control I was not given any sort of ground movement instructions; so I believe should have been immediately handed to tower with my request. Again; I do not believe ground should issue a flight instruction. One other factor to this was that the previous afternoon I had contacted ground for a reposition on the airfield. At that time the frequency was receiving ground; but also broadcasting tower commands. (For instance I made my ground movement request but could here tower commands to an aircraft on downwind.) When the event in question occurred; I did think it strange that a flight clearance was given from ground; but given the night before I was hearing tower commands from this channel; I unfortunately assumed that this was also a command from tower. Upon reaching my destination I contacted tower via phone and they stated the situation and that I had deviated because I departed without tower contact. I explained my reasoning and they were very considerate. They did make mention of an Archer on a one mile final that could have become an issue; but I feel that by staying clear of the runway at all times the risk of collision was very low.

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.