Clearance Delivery for VFR departures

[helicopterjoe]

This afternoon I took a flight from KBUR to KSBA. I've adopted Burbank as my base field on PE, and I've flown from it many times, always VFR. I'm usually flying a Bell 407, and always ask for a present position departure to what ever direction i need to go, winds permitting. Tower then usually gives me an at own risk/non moment area advisory and I'm on my way. But today, ATC requested that I go to clearance delivery to obtain a transponder code and departure instructions prior to contacting tower. I did so, got my clearance, contacted tower, took off and contacted SOCAL DEP as per my instructions, who promptly terminated my radar service after verifying my altitude.

This isn't a complaint about having to go to clearance delivery by any means, but to me it is an unusual practice for PE and RW. I've only ever been to one RW airfield that required all departures to contact clearance delivery prior to tower, and that was clearly outlined in the local procedures guide and on the ATIS recording. So what I'm asking is when will i be expected to contact clearance delivery for a VFR departure ?

Thanks

[Peter Grey]

Hello,

You being sent to clearance delivery was a mistake. I've addressed it with the controller and it won't happen again, sorry about that.

[Peter Grey]

I missed the question at the end:

For operations at Class B/C airports. In a helicopter you only need to call clearance delivery if you are requesting some sort of radar service.

In a fixed wing you need to call clearance delivery unless you are looking for pattern work.

The real world has some inconsistency on how this handled (as you bring up), especially for fixed wing aircraft. The way we do it is the more common way it's done in the SOCAL area.

In the future we plan to add an ATIS system and the ATIS will make this clearer.

[helicopterjoe]

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't mind getting sent to CD, I just wanted to be sure I was on the same page as the controller.