Hi everyone...I have a question for you all...When you depart from an airport on IFR, is it mandatory to follow the published Instrument Departure?I searched through the online FAA regulations, but I could only find mention of approach procedures, which you must follow when on IFR flight. Nothing about IFR departures.My conclusion is that it is up to the pilot (and/or ATC?) to follow or not a published departure procedure..Thank you

I don't think they're considered mandatory, but they're highly encouraged. I've never done it, but we were taught during instrument training to put a remark on your IFR flight plan, No SIDs or STARs, if we didn't have the charts in our possession. I suspect that if you refuse to accept a Departure Procedure at a busy airport, there might be a long delay in your IFR release.I recall once that I did not include a DP (the new term for SID) in my flight plan when departing from an unfamiliar airport, but my clearance included one anyway.

On most airports you'll get assigned one anyway whether you like it or not. It's the only way to keep the traffic flowing...

Thank you! That's exactly what I thought....

In the US there are three basic types of departure procedures.1) A departure procedure in graphical format (SID), which can be either pilot nav or vectored.2) A obstacle departure procedure in textual format, which you will find when no SID exists and the airport has one or more instrument approach procedures.3) A departure procedure you make up yourself when departing a class G airport that has neither instrument approaches nor departure procedures.The main purpose of a SID is to simplify the delivery of IFR clearances and, secondarily, to guarantee obstruction clearance.You do not have to accept a clearance with a departure procedure if you are unable to comply or if you don't have a textual description of the procedure. In many cases, ATC will give you departure instructions - "Fly runway heading, expect radar vectors to the BOGUS VOR, then as filed, climb and maintain 3000, expect 5000 10 minutes after departure, ..."You can put "No SID" or "No DP" in the comment section of your IFR flight plan or you can tell whoever is giving you your clearance of your wishes. Once you are given a clearance and you accept it, you must follow it until ATC ammends the clearance, you cancel IFR, or you declare an emergency for some reason.If you are departing a class G airport, the route portion of your clearance will begin with the phrase "when entering controlled airspace ..."Hope that helps,John

Oh well....That was clarifying!Thank you very much!

My response is a bit late but in the UK the statutory requirements are set out in The Rules of the Air Regulations 1996 Section VI Para 31 - Flight Plan and Air Traffic Control Clearance, which is part of the law and requires:- a flight plan to be submitted and a ATC clearance obtained - the flight to be in conformity with the ATC clearance, as amended by any further instructions given by ATC and in conformity with the notified SID and STARS, unless otherwise authorised by ATC.I've summarised this the wording by stripping out the legal jargon, for example the first requirement is actually:" 31.