Definition
An area near an airport, established by air traffic control through a formal terrain and obstacle assessment, within which ATC may radar-vector a departing aircraft below the published Minimum Vectoring Altitude (MVA) or Minimum IFR Altitude (MIA), provided the aircraft maintains the standard climb gradient of 200 feet per nautical mile until reaching that minimum altitude.
Plain English
It's a defined patch of sky near an airport where controllers are allowed to start steering an IFR departure with radar before the aircraft has climbed to the normal minimum altitude — because the area has already been checked for terrain and obstacles, as long as the aircraft climbs at the standard rate.
Context Anchor
Seen in IFR departure planning, instrument procedure notes, and ATC radar-vector departures from an airport.
Derivation
‘Diverse’ here means ‘in any direction’ — the same sense used in the FAA term ‘diverse departure,’ where an aircraft can depart on any heading because the surrounding area has been surveyed and found clear of obstacles at the standard climb gradient. ‘Vector Area’ refers to the airspace within which ATC may issue radar headings (vectors). Together: an area where ATC can vector aircraft in any direction at low altitude because the obstacle assessment has been done.
Why Pilots Care
It permits immediate radar vectoring after departure without requiring a published specific departure procedure while still guaranteeing obstacle clearance.
Intuition Check
Do not read “diverse” as simply meaning “varied” in a casual sense. Here it means different possible ATC-assigned headings within an area that has been checked for obstacle clearance.
Example Sentence 1
Because the airport has a published DVA, the controller was able to assign a left turn to heading 270 shortly after takeoff, before we reached the minimum vectoring altitude.
Example Sentence 2
Because the airport had an established DVA, ATC was able to provide radar vectors immediately after takeoff instead of requiring the published obstacle departure procedure.