An EMS helicopter pilot reports an approach controller took exception to his attempts to obtain a sp...

Narrative:

Our EMS helicopter is based at the local hospital. The hospital lies within the class D airspace of a joint civil/military airport. The conditions at the airport were reported as ceiling of 800' and visibility of 7 miles. Upon lifting from the pad at the hospital; I made contact with ZZZ tower to request a special VFR clearance through their airspace headed to an accident scene. The response from the tower was to contact approach. So; I switched over immediately to approach as I continued my departure from the hospital. Approach answered and I informed them that I was just departing from the hospital. Before I was even given an opportunity to request the special VFR clearance; the controller immediately chastised me for being in violation of the federal code of regulations for departing within the class D airspace without a special VFR clearance. He went on and on and I believe that the appropriate thing to do if he felt that way was to grant the special VFR clearance and then have me call him on the land line to discuss what he felt was a violation. I feel that would have been more appropriate than chastising me on frequency. In my defense; pertinent fars discuss departing a satellite airport within the boundaries of class D airspace. It specifically says to contact them as soon as possible after departing. I did do this per the far. I was passed from ZZZ tower without the opportunity to request the special. Approach did not give me a chance to request the special before chastising me. After returning later from the flight; I initiated contact with the supervisor on duty at approach control. We had a good discussion in which he said that there was no violation and no paperwork would be filed. It was on a recorded land line. The controller was out of line for chastising me on the frequency; and the supervisor advised me that they are used to having ZZZ tower call them up to request clearance of a special VFR prior to contact by the aircraft. Because the airspace is unique and it's joint military and civilian; there is a communication disagreement as to how to handle a special VFR clearance. I spoke with the supervisor and believe this issue to be resolved.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EMS helicopter pilot reports an approach controller took exception to his attempts to obtain a special VFR clearance following a takeoff from a hospital pad within the confines of the associated airport's Class D airspace.

Narrative: Our EMS Helicopter is based at the local Hospital. The hospital lies within the class D airspace of a joint civil/military airport. The conditions at the airport were reported as ceiling of 800' and visibility of 7 miles. Upon lifting from the pad at the hospital; I made contact with ZZZ tower to request a special VFR clearance through their airspace headed to an accident scene. The response from the tower was to contact approach. So; I switched over immediately to approach as I continued my departure from the hospital. Approach answered and I informed them that I was just departing from the hospital. Before I was even given an opportunity to request the special VFR clearance; the controller immediately chastised me for being in violation of the Federal Code of Regulations for departing within the class D airspace without a special VFR clearance. He went on and on and I believe that the appropriate thing to do if he felt that way was to grant the special VFR clearance and then have me call him on the land line to discuss what he felt was a violation. I feel that would have been more appropriate than chastising me on frequency. In my defense; pertinent FARs discuss departing a satellite airport within the boundaries of class D airspace. It specifically says to contact them as soon as possible after departing. I did do this per the FAR. I was passed from ZZZ Tower without the opportunity to request the special. Approach did not give me a chance to request the special before chastising me. After returning later from the flight; I initiated contact with the supervisor on duty at approach control. We had a good discussion in which he said that there was no violation and no paperwork would be filed. It was on a recorded land line. The controller was out of line for chastising me on the frequency; and the supervisor advised me that they are used to having ZZZ Tower call them up to request clearance of a special VFR prior to contact by the aircraft. Because the airspace is unique and it's joint military and civilian; there is a communication disagreement as to how to handle a special VFR clearance. I spoke with the supervisor and believe this issue to be resolved.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	860391
Time
Date	200911
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Jet/Long Ranger/206
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 6700 Flight Crew Type 1850
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

An EMS helicopter pilot reports an approach controller took exception to his attempts to obtain a special VFR clearance following a takeoff from a hospital pad within the confines of the associated airport's class D airspace.