Fractional First Officer reported performing a delayed turn to a waypoint to avoid terrain as following ATC's clearance would have led the aircraft towards terrain.

Date: 2023-12 · Aircraft: Medium Transport · Phase: takeoff

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|inflight-event-encounter-cftt-cfit

Synopsis

Fractional First Officer reported performing a delayed turn to a waypoint to avoid terrain as following ATC's clearance would have led the aircraft towards terrain.

Narrative

Clearance was received in concert with Runway 07 takeoff clearance at TKPK. This clearance has a few different waypoints than our filed route; which created additional workload during a critical phase of flight. Importantly; the clearance from Runway 07 was direct GABAR. Adherence to this clearance would require a climbing left turn of approximately 120 degrees directly towards the highest point on the island - Mount Liamuiga; 3793 ft. During climb-out sequence appproximately 400 ft. AGL; crew noticed the potential conflict with terrain that a clearance compliant turn to GABAR would create and quickly agreed to continue runway heading and delay the turn to clarify with ATC.ATC clearance that does not comply with TERPS (Terminal Instrument Procedures) criteria and could result in a CFIT event. Additionally; the crew could have evaluated this clearance against published RNAV departures and questioned the clearance / asked for an amended clearance. NOTAM at TKPK also mentioned supervised controller training.[Responded to ATC clearance with a] delayed turn to GABAR and ATC notification.Suggestions: Crew training for enhanced vigilance during island operations and emphasis on always requesting published departures / declining alternate clearances. Controller awareness / retraining at TKPK and Bradshaw Approach.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.