Narrative:

I released aircraft X. Aircraft X checked on my frequency with altitude leaving and that he was in a left turn to avoid the traffic. It was so obvious that I had expected the tower to hold onto aircraft X until they cleared the traffic which is normal. When he said he was in a left turn to avoid the traffic I asked if he had the traffic in sight and he did not. I then gave him a left heading in an effort to assist him in both traffic and terrain avoidance. I did not know what heading he was turning to; but I know anything north of a 090 heading goes to high MVA's; I did not want him to turn to a 020 heading and re-endangering himself.I gave him an immediate left turn heading 090; and expedite the climb to 14;000 feet which was assigned by the tower as normal. I gave the 090 heading because in the moment I determined two things were an imminent danger to the aircraft. Either test the big sky theory and let him continue toward the VFR aircraft or let him fly whatever heading he wanted to the north east. I felt that the heading I gave him would avoid both. In doing so I put the aircraft into a minimum vectoring altitude that he had not climbed above. I also knew that 'mountainous terrain' has 2;000 feet of clearance and I felt the traffic was the larger threat.the tower never called traffic to aircraft X and he was in the turn when I got him! I really believe that what I did was best for both aircraft involved. IFR/VFR continues to be an issue; but the TRACON seems to be focused on the issue when it appears other facilities are not yet on board. I was told I endangered the aircraft when I gave the heading east; I feel I fixed an already potentially fatal situation that the tower could have prevented.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: D01 Departure Controller reported vectoring a departing aircraft below the Minimum Vectoring Altitude to avoid unidentified VFR traffic.

Narrative: I released Aircraft X. Aircraft X checked on my frequency with altitude leaving and that he was in a left turn to avoid the traffic. It was so obvious that I had expected the Tower to hold onto Aircraft X until they cleared the traffic which is normal. When he said he was in a left turn to avoid the traffic I asked if he had the traffic in sight and he did not. I then gave him a left heading in an effort to assist him in both traffic and terrain avoidance. I did not know what heading he was turning to; but I know anything north of a 090 heading goes to high MVA's; I did not want him to turn to a 020 heading and re-endangering himself.I gave him an immediate left turn heading 090; and expedite the climb to 14;000 feet which was assigned by the Tower as normal. I gave the 090 heading because in the moment I determined two things were an imminent danger to the aircraft. Either test the big sky theory and let him continue toward the VFR aircraft or let him fly whatever heading he wanted to the north east. I felt that the heading I gave him would avoid both. In doing so I put the aircraft into a Minimum Vectoring Altitude that he had not climbed above. I also knew that 'mountainous terrain' has 2;000 feet of clearance and I felt the traffic was the larger threat.The Tower never called traffic to Aircraft X and he was in the turn when I got him! I really believe that what I did was best for both aircraft involved. IFR/VFR continues to be an issue; but the TRACON seems to be focused on the issue when it appears other facilities are not yet on board. I was told I endangered the aircraft when I gave the heading east; I feel I fixed an already potentially fatal situation that the Tower could have prevented.

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.