Narrative:

I was working south departure combined with south high and dqo. Phl was in a converging runway 9R/17 configuration. Air carrier X; a heavy checked in climbing to 5;000. I radar identified him and gave him a climb to 10;000 with a right turn direct ditch leaving 3;000. Air carrier X questioned this right turn which made me take a closer look. It appeared that air carrier X was in a turn to the southwest right into aircraft Y; a phl arrival at 4000. I immediately told air carrier X to turn left direct ditch and stop his climb at 3000. He responded with we are already through 3000 and in a turn direct ditch. It appeared that I had the required 5 miles wake turbulence separation so I had air carrier X stop at 5000 to avoid additional arrivals at 6000. I also told air carrier X to fly heading 090. When I questioned air carrier X about his initial heading; he said the tower had given him a right turn heading 245. Air carrier X also said he had questioned the tower about that heading since they were departing on runway 9 and the tower again issued a right turn to 245. Recommendation; when aircraft call clearance delivery; they are given the PHL8 departure. Then the aircraft gets to the runway and the local controller issues a new mitigated heading. What that heading is depends on where the aircraft is going. In a runway 9 operation the north departures will get heading 081 and the south departures will get heading 096. In a runway 27 operation the north departures will get heading 268 and the south departures will get heading 245. With the exception of the 245 heading; it seems like the headings were randomly picked. The headings can be confusing to pilots and the controller work load is increased with the additional phraseology of issuing departure headings. I recommend discontinuing the use of mitigated headings and go back to using the PHL8 departure.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PHL departure controller experienced a near conflict between departure/arrival air carriers when the tower apparently issued an incorrect initial heading with the take off clearance; reporter advocating a return to a SID.

Narrative: I was working South Departure combined with South High and DQO. PHL was in a converging Runway 9R/17 configuration. Air Carrier X; a heavy checked in climbing to 5;000. I RADAR identified him and gave him a climb to 10;000 with a right turn direct Ditch leaving 3;000. Air Carrier X questioned this right turn which made me take a closer look. It appeared that Air Carrier X was in a turn to the southwest right into Aircraft Y; a PHL arrival at 4000. I immediately told Air Carrier X to turn left direct DITCH and stop his climb at 3000. He responded with we are already through 3000 and in a turn direct DITCH. It appeared that I had the required 5 miles wake turbulence separation so I had Air Carrier X stop at 5000 to avoid additional arrivals at 6000. I also told Air Carrier X to fly heading 090. When I questioned Air Carrier X about his initial heading; he said the Tower had given him a right turn heading 245. Air Carrier X also said he had questioned the Tower about that heading since they were departing on Runway 9 and the Tower again issued a right turn to 245. Recommendation; when aircraft call Clearance Delivery; they are given the PHL8 Departure. Then the aircraft gets to the runway and the Local Controller issues a new mitigated heading. What that heading is depends on where the aircraft is going. In a Runway 9 operation the north departures will get heading 081 and the south departures will get heading 096. In a Runway 27 operation the north departures will get heading 268 and the south departures will get heading 245. With the exception of the 245 heading; it seems like the headings were randomly picked. The headings can be confusing to pilots and the controller work load is increased with the additional phraseology of issuing departure headings. I recommend discontinuing the use of mitigated headings and go back to using the PHL8 departure.

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.