BE35 pilot reported he was told he did not comply with uao tower departure instructions. The pilot b...

Narrative:

I departed uao airport on the clearance I was given by uao ground. I read back my clearance and ground control confirmed my clearance was accurate. The clearance was cleared to ZZZ airport ubg VOR then flight plan route; maintain 4;000 feet expect 6;000 feet five minutes after departure. The published departure procedure calls for at or above 700 feet direct ubg. I was instructed to taxi to runway 35. I taxied to the hold line for runway 35 and switched to tower frequency. I had to wait quite a while to call the tower as the frequency was quite congested. Tower was working an airplane with a mechanical issue to be number one to land. I called the tower and advised the controller I was ready for my IFR departure clearance as he was very busy with sequencing landing traffic. I was then cleared for takeoff without any further instructions or amendments. I read back the takeoff clearance verbatim. After established in the climb; I was told to contact portland departure. The departure frequency was very busy as I climbed through 1200 feet. I started my turn direct to ubg VOR.the controller then queried me as to what my clearance was to depart uao airport. I told him it was the same as I had filed; ubg then flight planned route. He told me to turn to heading 020 and maintain 3;000 feet with which I complied. After about three minutes the controller called me back and advised me to call portland ATC on the land line. He gave me a number to call; for a possible deviation. After reaching my destination I called the number. The controller I spoke with advised me uao tower controller stated he had cleared me to fly runway heading after takeoff. Had I heard that I would have most certainly complied. I honestly feel that was never said to me. The controller then told me the sector controller was very busy at the time with traffic. He thought this is why he did not get to your initial call sooner. He told me there was no loss of separation with traffic and they have had five or six other aircraft departing uao on runway 35 that have done the same thing in the past few months. The controller told me uao had recently got a contract tower and his office will be gathering information to come up with a resolution to make this departure safer for both pilots and controllers.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE35 pilot reported he was told he did not comply with UAO Tower departure instructions. The pilot believes he did comply with the instructions and ATC was mistaken.

Narrative: I departed UAO airport on the clearance I was given by UAO ground. I read back my clearance and ground control confirmed my clearance was accurate. The clearance was cleared to ZZZ airport UBG VOR then flight plan route; maintain 4;000 feet expect 6;000 feet five minutes after departure. The published departure procedure calls for at or above 700 feet direct UBG. I was instructed to taxi to runway 35. I taxied to the hold line for runway 35 and switched to tower frequency. I had to wait quite a while to call the tower as the frequency was quite congested. Tower was working an airplane with a mechanical issue to be number one to land. I called the tower and advised the controller I was ready for my IFR departure clearance as he was very busy with sequencing landing traffic. I was then cleared for takeoff without any further instructions or amendments. I read back the takeoff clearance verbatim. After established in the climb; I was told to contact Portland Departure. The departure frequency was very busy as I climbed through 1200 feet. I started my turn direct to UBG VOR.The controller then queried me as to what my clearance was to depart UAO airport. I told him it was the same as I had filed; UBG then flight planned route. He told me to turn to heading 020 and maintain 3;000 feet with which I complied. After about three minutes the controller called me back and advised me to call Portland ATC on the land line. He gave me a number to call; for a possible deviation. After reaching my destination I called the number. The controller I spoke with advised me UAO tower controller stated he had cleared me to fly runway heading after takeoff. Had I heard that I would have most certainly complied. I honestly feel that was never said to me. The controller then told me the sector controller was very busy at the time with traffic. He thought this is why he did not get to your initial call sooner. He told me there was no loss of separation with traffic and they have had five or six other aircraft departing UAO on runway 35 that have done the same thing in the past few months. The controller told me UAO had recently got a contract tower and his office will be gathering information to come up with a resolution to make this departure safer for both pilots and controllers.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1391844
Time
Date	201609
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	UAO.Airport
State Reference	OR
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Bonanza 35
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 3539 Flight Crew Type 2960
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

BE35 pilot reported he was told he did not comply with uao tower departure instructions. The pilot believes he did comply with the instructions and ATC was mistaken.