Narrative:

I took off from hnd southwest bound for los angeles. Tower cleared me for a left downwind departure and then runway heading of 170 degrees. I climbed out and leveled off at 6;500 MSL in the 8;000/9;000 sector of the class B. I tried nearly a dozen times to contact vegas approach for flight following. The controller was handling numerous airline traffic calls and kept ignoring me. There was an airmet issued for severe turbulence in the area from the surface to 12;000 MSL. The terrain rises up very quickly within 15 to 20 miles south of hnd and I was getting extremely close to the rising terrain and experiencing turbulent conditions. I elected for safety to veer over to the west level at 6;500 ft to avoid terrain ahead in turbulent conditions. I had been trying to contact vegas approach to inform them of my decision as it may have placed me in a marginal class B incursion skirting a corner portion of the 5;000/9;000 sector for a brief time and I did not want to drop lower in altitude with turbulent conditions close to the surface. After veering to the west for a few minutes the controller finally acknowledged me and told me to wait and keep clear of class B before I had a chance to inform him of my flight conditions. Then he continued handling airline traffic. I kept trying to call back but got no reply. Finally when I was past jean and out of class B airspace the controller acknowledged me and told me to contact center. I have been flying in and out of henderson airport for a dozen times in the past and every other time I contacted vegas approach I was acknowledged within a reasonable time even in extremely busy situations. All the controller had to do was give me a squawk code to ident and listen to my request for a direction change to avoid terrain ahead in turbulent conditions and then monitor me to keep me clear of any conflicting traffic. But that would mean the controller would have to do extra work and some controllers seem to take the attitude that they are only paid to handle airline traffic and general aviation traffic is not important. But it was extremely important for me to remain safe with rising terrain and turbulent conditions and to comply with all the class B requirements. I feel that I was being deliberately ignored by the controller while I was in his airspace because I was a general aviation pilot and the indication of this claim is the fact that he waited while I was out of his airspace to take my request. This is a very unsafe condition which exists in the traffic control system. Let's not forget that general aviation funds pay a good portion of the operating costs of the ATC operation. And ATC should be for the benefit of all pilots both airline transport and general aviation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A private pilot flying a Ryan Navion complained the Approach Controller had failed to acknowledge his requests for flight following within the Las Vegas Class B. Turbulence and terrain concerns contributed to his angst.

Narrative: I took off from HND southwest bound for Los Angeles. Tower cleared me for a left downwind departure and then runway heading of 170 degrees. I climbed out and leveled off at 6;500 MSL in the 8;000/9;000 sector of the Class B. I tried nearly a dozen times to contact Vegas Approach for flight following. The Controller was handling numerous airline traffic calls and kept ignoring me. There was an AIRMET issued for severe turbulence in the area from the surface to 12;000 MSL. The terrain rises up very quickly within 15 to 20 miles south of HND and I was getting extremely close to the rising terrain and experiencing turbulent conditions. I elected for safety to veer over to the west level at 6;500 FT to avoid terrain ahead in turbulent conditions. I had been trying to contact Vegas Approach to inform them of my decision as it may have placed me in a marginal Class B incursion skirting a corner portion of the 5;000/9;000 sector for a brief time and I did not want to drop lower in altitude with turbulent conditions close to the surface. After veering to the west for a few minutes the Controller finally acknowledged me and told me to wait and keep clear of Class B before I had a chance to inform him of my flight conditions. Then he continued handling airline traffic. I kept trying to call back but got no reply. Finally when I was past Jean and out of Class B airspace the Controller acknowledged me and told me to contact Center. I have been flying in and out of Henderson Airport for a dozen times in the past and every other time I contacted Vegas Approach I was acknowledged within a reasonable time even in extremely busy situations. All the Controller had to do was give me a squawk code to ident and listen to my request for a direction change to avoid terrain ahead in turbulent conditions and then monitor me to keep me clear of any conflicting traffic. But that would mean the Controller would have to do extra work and some controllers seem to take the attitude that they are only paid to handle airline traffic and General Aviation traffic is not important. But it was extremely important for me to remain safe with rising terrain and turbulent conditions and to comply with all the Class B requirements. I feel that I was being deliberately ignored by the controller while I was in his airspace because I was a General Aviation pilot and the indication of this claim is the fact that he waited while I was out of his airspace to take my request. This is a very unsafe condition which exists in the traffic control system. Let's not forget that general aviation funds pay a good portion of the operating costs of the ATC operation. And ATC should be for the benefit of all pilots both airline transport and General Aviation.

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.