Salt lake TRACON controller reported observing a departure on a heading towards conflicting terrain ...

Narrative:

Aircraft X; was on the salt lake 3 departure. When he reached tch VOR; he made a sharp right turn; in what I assume was an attempt to join the tch 094 radial. I observed this; however the tower had not shipped the aircraft to departure frequency yet. I called to the tower to see if they still had the aircraft; because he was at a dangerously low altitude and only cleared to climb to 10;000 MSL with multiple higher MVA's in his flight path. Unless he was given a corrective vector back to the north; not only would he be in danger with terrain; but he also would have entered an active [stadium] tfr.I called local center to make sure the tower was aware of the situation. I asked if they were talking to aircraft X; to which the tower controller replied no. He then asked the other tower controllers. At this point; instead of taking any corrective action for themselves; they changed the aircraft to my frequency. On his initial check in; I turned the aircraft to a 340 heading (what he should have been on) and the pilot responded that he was heading 120. I then asked him if he could maintain his own terrain and obstruction clearance below 11;000 MSL. The aircraft replied that he could; so I re-issued the turn to a 340 heading; and the aircraft turned. I'm not sure what to say about preventing the re-occurrence of this event. I don't know that the aircraft got the correct clearance from the tower. I do however; feel fairly confident that if the tower had been paying more attention to the departure or if the aircraft had been on my frequency instead of tower's; I could have corrected this situation before it became an issue. This is a systemic issue with salt lake tower. They frequently retain communication with departure aircraft for extended periods of time or distance when providing no service and/or when TRACON could be providing better; safer; or more expeditious service. The bottom line is; if that aircraft is on tower's frequency; I should not have had to alert them to the fact that the aircraft had come off the departure; they should have recognized it themselves. Furthermore; the tower needs to ensure all conflicts are resolved before frequency change to departure.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Salt Lake TRACON Controller reported observing a departure on a heading towards conflicting terrain and airspace. Reporter stated the local tower retains aircraft on their frequency for extended periods without proper monitoring.

Narrative: Aircraft X; was on the SALT LAKE 3 departure. When he reached TCH VOR; he made a sharp right turn; in what I assume was an attempt to join the TCH 094 radial. I observed this; however the tower had not shipped the aircraft to departure frequency yet. I called to the tower to see if they still had the aircraft; because he was at a dangerously low altitude and only cleared to climb to 10;000 MSL with multiple higher MVA's in his flight path. Unless he was given a corrective vector back to the north; not only would he be in danger with terrain; but he also would have entered an active [stadium] TFR.I called Local Center to make sure the tower was aware of the situation. I asked if they were talking to Aircraft X; to which the tower controller replied no. He then asked the other tower controllers. At this point; instead of taking any corrective action for themselves; they changed the aircraft to my frequency. On his initial check in; I turned the aircraft to a 340 heading (what he should have been on) and the pilot responded that he was heading 120. I then asked him if he could maintain his own terrain and obstruction clearance below 11;000 MSL. The aircraft replied that he could; so I re-issued the turn to a 340 heading; and the aircraft turned. I'm not sure what to say about preventing the re-occurrence of this event. I don't know that the aircraft got the correct clearance from the tower. I do however; feel fairly confident that if the tower had been paying more attention to the departure or if the aircraft had been on my frequency instead of tower's; I could have corrected this situation before it became an issue. This is a systemic issue with Salt Lake Tower. They frequently retain communication with departure aircraft for extended periods of time or distance when providing no service and/or when TRACON could be providing better; safer; or more expeditious service. The bottom line is; if that aircraft is on Tower's frequency; I should not have had to alert them to the fact that the aircraft had come off the departure; they should have recognized it themselves. Furthermore; the tower needs to ensure all conflicts are resolved before frequency change to departure.

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	1393018
Time
Date	201610
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	S56.TRACON
State Reference	UT
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Approach
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 10
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Salt lake TRACON controller reported observing a departure on a heading towards conflicting terrain and airspace. Reporter stated the local tower retains aircraft on their frequency for extended periods without proper monitoring.