A light twin pilot departed fmy and was assigned 2;000 ft where he was given traffic 500 ft above bu...

Narrative:

Departed fmy and had requested VFR flight following to my destination. Requested altitude was 7;500 ft or higher. After takeoff; tower instructed me to maintain runway heading; 2;000 ft altitude and to contact ft. Myers approach. After contacting ft. Myers approach and leveling at 2;000 ft; runway heading; approach called out traffic at 6 miles and 2;500 ft. I responded with traffic in sight and requested a turn on course. Response was to 'maintain heading'. By staying on the heading and course assigned; result was the close passing of the two aircraft. When I brought this to the attention of the controller; his tone and demeanor was not showing of any concern; the controller showed the lack of understanding and if I had not been able to maintain visual separation with the other airplane; an accident could have occurred. It is not known if the other plane was in contact or communication with ATC. The evasive action consisted of monitoring the altitude through the tcad installed on board and making sure we were several hundred feet below the other plane. The assigned heading made us pass almost directly under the other plane with solid traffic advisories from the tcad unit. In many years of flying this is the closest that a controller has intentionally made me come to another aircraft after requesting a turn.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A light twin pilot departed FMY and was assigned 2;000 FT where he was given traffic 500 FT above but ATC would not allow him to deviate from the traffic.

Narrative: Departed FMY and had requested VFR flight following to my destination. Requested altitude was 7;500 FT or higher. After takeoff; Tower instructed me to maintain runway heading; 2;000 FT altitude and to contact Ft. Myers Approach. After contacting Ft. Myers Approach and leveling at 2;000 FT; runway heading; Approach called out traffic at 6 miles and 2;500 FT. I responded with traffic in sight and requested a turn on course. Response was to 'maintain heading'. By staying on the heading and course assigned; result was the close passing of the two aircraft. When I brought this to the attention of the Controller; his tone and demeanor was not showing of any concern; the Controller showed the lack of understanding and if I had not been able to maintain visual separation with the other airplane; an accident could have occurred. It is not known if the other plane was in contact or communication with ATC. The evasive action consisted of monitoring the altitude through the TCAD installed on board and making sure we were several hundred feet below the other plane. The assigned heading made us pass almost directly under the other plane with solid traffic advisories from the TCAD unit. In many years of flying this is the closest that a Controller has intentionally made me come to another aircraft after requesting a turn.

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	942177
Time
Date	201103
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	FMY.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Transport Low Wing 2 Recip Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Rotorcraft Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 4000 Flight Crew Type 2200
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict
Miss Distance	Horizontal 1000 Vertical 400

A light twin pilot departed fmy and was assigned 2;000 ft where he was given traffic 500 ft above but ATC would not allow him to deviate from the traffic.