Kinda sad...

[Jay Honeck]

Yesterday was gorgeous, CAVU weather in Iowa, so we took advantage and flew
to Ft. Dodge for the first time.

Located in north central Iowa, Ft. Dodge is the site of Iowa's only Flight
Service Station. We have talked to them literally hundreds of times over
the years -- but we had never actually flown there. The promise of a
courtesy car made our decision easy, and off we went, bucking a 40 knot
headwind all the way.

It was a smooth and beautiful -- if slow -- ride. That part of Iowa is
incredibly rural -- one of the reasons we'd never been there, before -- and
soaring over places and people who are so isolated from what we consider to
be the "real" world was a humbling experience. What different lives they
must lead!

Ft. Dodge has a very nice airport, with huge runways, an ILS, and a fairly
new terminal. Northwest Airlink still serves them three times daily,
thanks to federal subsidies, but their FSS is slated for closure under the
Lockheed-Martin privatization agreement. We wanted to see what a real FSS
looked like, before they were all gone, so we strolled over after enjoying a
fantastic, dirt cheap breakfast at "Brownies", a great locally-owned cafe in
town.

Out front of the FSS stood an older guy sporting a pony tail, smoking a
cigarette. He told us what code to dial to get in, and we entered a large,
darkened room with dozens of computer terminals -- and no people. There was
one lonely guy in sight, the supervisor, and he came over to greet us.

It seems that even though they are not slated for closure until July 2007,
the closure is already all but complete. Most of the older guys with
seniority have bid on other FAA jobs and left, or retired, and the only ones
left are the folks who didn't want to leave the area. The two guys we met
will retire when the station closes.

Lockheed has already diverted 50% of their calls to the FSS in Kankakee, IL,
so even though there were only two guys working, they had nothing to do.
There was a big electronic sign on the wall showing "Calls Waiting: 0", and
the only noise was the hum of cooling fans. It was eerie, and more than a
little sad, to see such a big, vital facility in its death throes.

Ft. Dodge is yet another dying farm-industrial town in the heartland, and
it's clearly seen better days. The City built this structure for the FAA,
they were so desperate to get the jobs, and now this beautiful building will
soon sit empty, another relic of another upgrade to our national airspace.
We all understand that it makes little sense to have 60 separate Flight
Service Stations in the age of computers and satellite weather, but it's
still melancholy to see the end of an era.

Go visit your FSS soon -- if it's like ours, it's about to go the way of
NDBs and radio ranges...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jim Burns]

The FSS at Green Bay will also be closing. I've been fortunate enough to
fly 3 separate plane loads of students over there to get the 10 cent tour.
A real great bunch of guys that, even after 9/11, went through the trouble
to get our tours approved, then took the time to answer all our questions,
and explain how everything worked. They also took the time to answer our
questions about their training, their previous jobs, and the way the
transition would effect them.

Many of us have come to recognize and remember their voices. Those of us
that are truly lucky can match the voices with a name, a face, and a
handshake.

Thanks Capt' Jake, you've been a invaluable resource.
We'll miss you.

Jim

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:iYELf.796015$_o.666924@attbi_s71...
> Yesterday was gorgeous, CAVU weather in Iowa, so we took advantage and
flew
> to Ft. Dodge for the first time.
>
> Located in north central Iowa, Ft. Dodge is the site of Iowa's only Flight
> Service Station. We have talked to them literally hundreds of times over
> the years -- but we had never actually flown there. The promise of a
> courtesy car made our decision easy, and off we went, bucking a 40 knot
> headwind all the way.
>
> It was a smooth and beautiful -- if slow -- ride. That part of Iowa is
> incredibly rural -- one of the reasons we'd never been there, before --
and
> soaring over places and people who are so isolated from what we consider
to
> be the "real" world was a humbling experience. What different lives they
> must lead!
>
> Ft. Dodge has a very nice airport, with huge runways, an ILS, and a fairly
> new terminal. Northwest Airlink still serves them three times daily,
> thanks to federal subsidies, but their FSS is slated for closure under the
> Lockheed-Martin privatization agreement. We wanted to see what a real FSS
> looked like, before they were all gone, so we strolled over after enjoying
a
> fantastic, dirt cheap breakfast at "Brownies", a great locally-owned cafe
in
> town.
>
> Out front of the FSS stood an older guy sporting a pony tail, smoking a
> cigarette. He told us what code to dial to get in, and we entered a
large,
> darkened room with dozens of computer terminals -- and no people. There
was
> one lonely guy in sight, the supervisor, and he came over to greet us.
>
> It seems that even though they are not slated for closure until July 2007,
> the closure is already all but complete. Most of the older guys with
> seniority have bid on other FAA jobs and left, or retired, and the only
ones
> left are the folks who didn't want to leave the area. The two guys we
met
> will retire when the station closes.
>
> Lockheed has already diverted 50% of their calls to the FSS in Kankakee,
IL,
> so even though there were only two guys working, they had nothing to do.
> There was a big electronic sign on the wall showing "Calls Waiting: 0",
and
> the only noise was the hum of cooling fans. It was eerie, and more than a
> little sad, to see such a big, vital facility in its death throes.
>
> Ft. Dodge is yet another dying farm-industrial town in the heartland, and
> it's clearly seen better days. The City built this structure for the FAA,
> they were so desperate to get the jobs, and now this beautiful building
will
> soon sit empty, another relic of another upgrade to our national airspace.
> We all understand that it makes little sense to have 60 separate Flight
> Service Stations in the age of computers and satellite weather, but it's
> still melancholy to see the end of an era.
>
> Go visit your FSS soon -- if it's like ours, it's about to go the way of
> NDBs and radio ranges...
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
>

[Gene Seibel]

I began flying in the days when FSS were scattered all across the
country. I will always fondly remember approaching Harrison, Arkansas
from the north as a thunderstorm approached from the west. The FSS guy
gave me a blow by blow description of its progress as I eventually lost
the race and diverted to another airport. That was flight service at
its finest. But I also understand we can't afford to continue providing
that service to 6 airplanes a day. ;(
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

[Jim Burns]

In Wisconsin, I can remember FSS stations in:
Wausau
La Crosse
Green Bay

I "think" I can also remember that Madison, Eau Claire, and Milwaukee also
had FSS's. It would make sense, I just can't remember talking or visiting
those.

Jim

[Don Tuite]

On 24 Feb 2006 14:14:25 -0800, "Jay Honeck" >
wrote:

>> I began flying in the days when FSS were scattered all across the
>> country.
>
>I've heard that there were Flight Service Stations at virtually every
>medium-or-better-sized airport in America at one time. True? I
>know Iowa City had one.

Back in 1969, there was even one at Bryce Canyon. In a trailer next
to the big old barn hangar.

I know because I flew into there with clenched cheeks from a case of
food poisoning I'd given myself by eating a 3-day old roast beef
sandwich at Kanab. The faxt I'd made a bad mistake hit me as I was
passing Zion Canyon on my way from St. George. I spent about two hours
in their john.

Those guys were saints.

(That's a joke for Mr. Campbell.)

Don

[Greg B]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:iYELf.796015$_o.666924@attbi_s71...
> Yesterday was gorgeous, CAVU weather in Iowa, so we took advantage and
> flew to Ft. Dodge for the first time.

Hey, that's MY neighborhood! And you didn't stop by???

I have visited FOD-FSS a few times but not lately. There were only 2 or 3
people around each time I stopped.

I use that airport regularly for airline flights; I have found that flying
out of FOD is sometimes cheaper than flying out of Minneapolis and is a lot
more convenient for parking (free!). I flew out of there last fall to
Pittsburgh, a month ago to Phoenix and was just there from a Detroit trip on
Tuesday night.

Fort Dodge is one of only two airports that I have flown a plane into and
also flown as an airline passenger. One of these days I'll make Mason City
my third.

-Greg B.

[BTIZ]

Did the same thing with the Cedar City UT FSS Station a couple of months
ago. Those eligible to retire did, and many of those signed on under
contract with Lockheed. Those not eligible to retire are looking for other
positions to move to within the civil service system.

Many of the Cedar City calls are already diverted, and I think sometime this
summer it will complete it's closeout.

BT

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:iYELf.796015$_o.666924@attbi_s71...
> Yesterday was gorgeous, CAVU weather in Iowa, so we took advantage and
> flew to Ft. Dodge for the first time.
>
> Located in north central Iowa, Ft. Dodge is the site of Iowa's only Flight
> Service Station. We have talked to them literally hundreds of times over
> the years -- but we had never actually flown there. The promise of a
> courtesy car made our decision easy, and off we went, bucking a 40 knot
> headwind all the way.
>
> It was a smooth and beautiful -- if slow -- ride. That part of Iowa is
> incredibly rural -- one of the reasons we'd never been there, before --
> and soaring over places and people who are so isolated from what we
> consider to be the "real" world was a humbling experience. What
> different lives they must lead!
>
> Ft. Dodge has a very nice airport, with huge runways, an ILS, and a fairly
> new terminal. Northwest Airlink still serves them three times daily,
> thanks to federal subsidies, but their FSS is slated for closure under the
> Lockheed-Martin privatization agreement. We wanted to see what a real FSS
> looked like, before they were all gone, so we strolled over after enjoying
> a fantastic, dirt cheap breakfast at "Brownies", a great locally-owned
> cafe in town.
>
> Out front of the FSS stood an older guy sporting a pony tail, smoking a
> cigarette. He told us what code to dial to get in, and we entered a
> large, darkened room with dozens of computer terminals -- and no people.
> There was one lonely guy in sight, the supervisor, and he came over to
> greet us.
>
> It seems that even though they are not slated for closure until July 2007,
> the closure is already all but complete. Most of the older guys with
> seniority have bid on other FAA jobs and left, or retired, and the only
> ones left are the folks who didn't want to leave the area. The two guys
> we met will retire when the station closes.
>
> Lockheed has already diverted 50% of their calls to the FSS in Kankakee,
> IL, so even though there were only two guys working, they had nothing to
> do. There was a big electronic sign on the wall showing "Calls Waiting:
> 0", and the only noise was the hum of cooling fans. It was eerie, and
> more than a little sad, to see such a big, vital facility in its death
> throes.
>
> Ft. Dodge is yet another dying farm-industrial town in the heartland, and
> it's clearly seen better days. The City built this structure for the FAA,
> they were so desperate to get the jobs, and now this beautiful building
> will soon sit empty, another relic of another upgrade to our national
> airspace. We all understand that it makes little sense to have 60 separate
> Flight Service Stations in the age of computers and satellite weather, but
> it's still melancholy to see the end of an era.
>
> Go visit your FSS soon -- if it's like ours, it's about to go the way of
> NDBs and radio ranges...
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[JJS]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message news:iYELf.796015$_o.666924@attbi_s71...
snip

> Go visit your FSS soon -- if it's like ours, it's about to go the way of NDBs and radio ranges...

I stopped by KGAG on the way back from the county seat yesterday. Gage once was an auxiliary airbase for Liberal,
Ks. It had an FSS up until the '70's IIRC. The reason I stopped by was that behind the derelict FSS buildings and
the modern ASOS that took its place, buried in knee high Bluestem grass is an old beacon. A fellow EAA'er told me
about it and his description intrigued me. This relic sits on about a 3" pipe approximately waist high. The light
housing is non-adjustable and stationary. It points within a few degrees of straight up in the air. The lens is
about 12 inches in diameter and the filament is about 2" long and very heavy duty. The reflector is a very highly
polished mirror and there is what appears to be a heating element inside the housing. The metal tag on it was
stamped Crouse-Hinds WSO 700. I searched the net for an hour or so last night and found nothing that resembles it.
I thought it was an old airway beacon but the ones I came across on my search looked like you could aim them and most
if not all were colored. Why would anyone want to point a stationary non-colored beam straight up in the air like
that? Anyone have any clues? Was it for the military base or the civilian FSS or what?

I wish someone would salvage one of these old FSS's and set the equipment up in an airplane museum. Can you imagine
what our great great grandkids would think of the old vacuum tube radios.

BTW, your description of the farm economy echoes that of what is happening here. We are on an accelerated time scale
as this was what would be considered by many to be mostly marginal farm land to begin with. In our day though, our
family farm raised seven kids, employed two hired hands, and put five of us kids through college. Most of the small
towns are down to one school and a convenience store / get & go. The CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) that all of
the tree huggers rave about caused the majority of the Farmer's Co-ops to go under. Now the mid sized towns that
have the Wally Worlds are hurting as the kids move away to find jobs. Americana as we know it is dying an agonizing
death in the heartland.



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[Skyhawk544]

> I stopped by KGAG on the way back from the county seat yesterday.


Sounds like you are in my neck of the woods. The same can be said here
(O53) the farm economy is failing here and we are down to one
convenience store and one school as well. I have a aircraft maintenance
shop here and over the years it has been failing as well, many planes
based here haven't been flown in years, and most are not airworthy
anymore.

[Jay Honeck]

> Hey, that's MY neighborhood! And you didn't stop by???

No kidding? I still think of you as living up in Minnesota, hey, doncha
know?

Next time we'll grab lunch at Brownie's with ya!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jay Honeck]

> The CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) that all of the tree huggers rave
> about caused the majority of the Farmer's Co-ops to go under.

What's the "CRP" do?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Newps]

Jay Honeck wrote:
>>The CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) that all of the tree huggers rave
>>about caused the majority of the Farmer's Co-ops to go under.
>
>
> What's the "CRP" do?

Pays farmers to set land aside for wildlife.

[Jay Honeck]

>>>The CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) that all of the tree huggers rave
>>>about caused the majority of the Farmer's Co-ops to go under.
>>
>> What's the "CRP" do?
>
> Pays farmers to set land aside for wildlife.

I mean in relation to the Farmer's Co-ops. How did they kill the co-ops?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jose]

> The list goes on and on. How is it that we once valued "service", but
> no longer do today?

I think it's the other way around. We are more inclined nowadays to do
it ourselves. This is especially true when we can save a little money -
why pay somebody to hand the phone to you when you are sitting right
next to it. But there is no "logical stopping point", and so it can
continue as long as people are willing.

Also, probably starting around the fifties, consumerism really took
hold, probably fueled by television, and in order to buy all the goodies
we were supposed to want we had to make better use of our money. So we
skimped on service to spend on goods.

We also had a sense of greater destiny - how many kids these days =want=
to get up at four am and clean out the stable and milk cows all day? In
the old days there wasn't much choice, but now there's a big city they
can actually go to and do something worthwhile with their lives. (I
know.. like flip burgers :)

As things got bigger (and more efficient), they got more anonymous,
which made them easier to get bigger...

That's the trend I see, and the FSS system is just a part of it. And it
might be nice to wander over to the FSS building and talk to the briefer
over a real chart (made of fuzzy blue lines that were hard to read), but
it is also nice to see the actual color radar traces on my computer, a
3D color plot of wind intensity and icing potential, and pull up an
animated sequence across my flight path.

What I really miss though is being able to talk to an actual meteorologist.

Jose
--
Money: what you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Martin Hotze]

On 24 Feb 2006 14:14:25 -0800, Jay Honeck wrote:

>1. When I was a boy in Racine, WI, the garbage men used to walk around
>to the BACK of the house to pick up our garbage cans, carried them out
>to the street, dumped them in the truck, and then carried them --
>CAREFULLY -- back. Imagine!

cost of employees.

>2. When I was born in 1958, my mother was in the hospital for six days,
>the nurses gave her foot massages, she was allowed to smoke in her room
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
well ...

>3. When I was a kid, every service station had a fleet of guys on the
>payroll to pump the gas, check the oil, inspect the tail lights, etc.
>Gas cost 39 cents a gallon. And we thought THAT was high.

cost of employees.

>The list goes on and on. How is it that we once valued "service", but
>no longer do today?

cost of employees. if you have to downsize at your hotel: where can you
save HUGE amounts of money? cancelling the morning paper?

#m
--
We reject Gilmore’s right to travel argument because the Constitution does
not guarantee the right to travel by any particular form of transportation.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P27712B8C

[Jay Honeck]

> cost of employees. if you have to downsize at your hotel: where can you
> save HUGE amounts of money? cancelling the morning paper?

Our biggest expenses are, in order:

1. Taxes
2. Utilities
3. Employees

Eliminate our woefully inefficient, never-satisfied, ever-expanding,
incredibly stupid government, and just imagine what we could actually pay
out to "We the People"...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[gyoung]

Gene Seibel wrote:
> I began flying in the days when FSS were scattered all across the
> country. I will always fondly remember approaching Harrison, Arkansas
> from the north as a thunderstorm approached from the west. The FSS guy
> gave me a blow by blow description of its progress as I eventually lost
> the race and diverted to another airport. That was flight service at
> its finest. But I also understand we can't afford to continue providing
> that service to 6 airplanes a day. ;(
> --
> Gene Seibel
> Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
> Because I fly, I envy no one.
>

I too remember - FSSs were always nearby - near Hoxie (where I grew up)
at GLD and maybe at HLC (where the HLC is closer to Hoxie than to Hill
City). Thank goodness, since that was before toll-free telephone
service (long distance phone calls were expensive) and we didn't have
the Internet, etc.

My most memorable visit was at Tuscaloosa - Mother's Day, 1966. On the
spur of the moment, a friend and I flew down from Wright Field in a T-34
to drop in on his mother. We enjoyed a great flight down and had a
wonderful day - southern hospitality and all.

We visited the FSS on the field in preparation to return. We got the
usual full briefing - over the counter, in person. We settled on going
northeast, then north. Just as the door to the FSS was closing behind
us, the briefer called after us - reported he had been advised that
thunderstorms had increased in intensity on our route and advised that
we should consider going north then northeast. Whew. We changed the
route of flight, climbed through scattered to 10500, watched the
activity east of us, and landed at DWF before dark.

Those 'old days' were 'good'.

Gene: I've been enjoying your publications on your web site - thanks
for sharing your experiences and love of aviation.

george

[Jay Honeck]

> We visited the FSS on the field in preparation to return. We got the usual
> full briefing - over the counter, in person. We settled on going
> northeast, then north. Just as the door to the FSS was closing behind us,
> the briefer called after us - reported he had been advised that
> thunderstorms had increased in intensity on our route and advised that we
> should consider going north then northeast. Whew. We changed the route
> of flight, climbed through scattered to 10500, watched the activity east
> of us, and landed at DWF before dark.
>
> Those 'old days' were 'good'.

Thanks for sharing your recollections. It's amazing how much EVERYTHING has
changed in just 40 years.

Personally, I like having the live satellite and radar on my computer before
launching, as opposed to a system of weather observers scattered around the
country. True, it's not as personal, but I can gather more pertinent data
from a glance at the live radar than I can from a five minute briefing. In
this case, a picture truly IS worth a thousand words, IMHO.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Martin Hotze]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 15:01:23 GMT, Jay Honeck wrote:

>> cost of employees. if you have to downsize at your hotel: where can you
>> save HUGE amounts of money? cancelling the morning paper?
>
>Our biggest expenses are, in order:
>
>1. Taxes

well, you have to pay the infrastructure you use somehow. You might afford
to pay directly for what you use, but there are also other expenses.
Democaracy is bad, but it is the best of all forms. Sure, there are ways to
spend money wiser than it is done now, but some say "reduce military
expenses", others say "more welfare" ... and here we go ...

>2. Utilities

you can save there. you just have to invest first. but it will pay for
itself.

>3. Employees

here we go. :-)

>Eliminate our woefully inefficient, never-satisfied, ever-expanding,
>incredibly stupid government, and just imagine what we could actually pay
>out to "We the People"...

o what would you change? toll roads? user fees for aviation? less military
expenses, less social security?

whatever you will do: it will be wrong.

#m
--
We reject Gilmore’s right to travel argument because the Constitution does
not guarantee the right to travel by any particular form of transportation.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P27712B8C

[Tom Conner]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:wf%Lf.822641$xm3.626973@attbi_s21...
> >
> > Those 'old days' were 'good'.
>
> Thanks for sharing your recollections. It's amazing how much
> EVERYTHING has changed in just 40 years.

You haven't seen anything yet. Because of the advances in computing,
communications, and genetic engineering, society in 40 more years will be
completely different than today. Assuming the stupid people don't destroy
everything first.

[JJS]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message news:uMQLf.796783$_o.760340@attbi_s71...
>> The CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) that all of the tree huggers rave about caused the majority of the Farmer's
>> Co-ops to go under.
>
> What's the "CRP" do?

type "Conservation Reserve Program" in Google. You'll get all of the "positive" points of view.



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[Dylan Smith]

On 2006-02-24, Jay Honeck > wrote:
> I'm always amazed at the level of service we once expected, yet can
> (for some reason) no longer afford. Some examples:

Hey, if I call our local weather briefing number here, I get to speak to
the actual *forecaster* :-)

--
Dylan Smith, Port St Mary, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net

[Dylan Smith]

On 2006-02-25, Tom Conner > wrote:
> You haven't seen anything yet. Because of the advances in computing,
> communications, and genetic engineering, society in 40 more years will be
> completely different than today. Assuming the stupid people don't destroy
> everything first.

A couple of months ago, there was soemthing on the radio about Britain's
oldest man dying (he was 109, IIRC it was especially notable because I
think he was the last WWI vet in Britain).

Consider this. He was born in 1896, and as a child in the early 1900s,
his household would probably NOT have had:
- a car
- central heating
- washing machines or vacuum cleaners
- electricity
- an inside toilet
Television wasn't invented. Recorded music was a strange thing and was
so poor quality it really wasn't worthwhile. The first transistor was
still 50 years away. Aeroplanes hadn't been invented.

In 1956, this man was of pensionable age. The transistor was a brand new
invention, and the idea of an integrated circuit still hadn't been had.
The world had already massively changed: most people had cars or
motorcycles, hot water, indoor toilets, at least a radio and possibly a
television. Everyone had electricity, city streets were brightly lit by
low pressure sodium streetlights. Most people had telephones - but long
distance dialing was still done by calling an operator who connected
trunk calls manually.

When he died in 2005, anyone could cheaply publish music, writing,
photographs and video on the Internet. Supersonic passenger travel had
been and gone. Computers had gone from gigantic house sized things
stuffed with vacuum tubes to something you could put in your pocket.
Your telephone was now something you could put in your pocket, too, and
use all over the world, and you could do things like send photographs.
Travel across the Atlantic was cheap enough that a working class person
in Britain could afford a trip to Disneyland with the family. The Soviet
Union had risen and fallen. Between hitting retirement age and passing
away, entire generations of jet aircraft had come and gone. Even as an
old man, he saw tremendous change.

The changes this man saw in his lifetime were tremendous.

Now think of where we are now. Where will we be when you are 109?

--
Dylan Smith, Port St Mary, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net

[Jay Honeck]

> Now think of where we are now. Where will we be when you are 109?

....Probably still waiting for Lowrance to come out with XM weather for my
2000c...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Gig 601XL Builder]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>> I began flying in the days when FSS were scattered all across the
>> country.
>
> I've heard that there were Flight Service Stations at virtually every
> medium-or-better-sized airport in America at one time. True? I
> know Iowa City had one.
>
> Just curious: What paid for them? Gas taxes? Were they eliminated by
> technology, or did they just price themselves out of existence with
> high wage demands?

El Dorado AR (ELD) had one through the mid '80s and it is a small airport.
They were great. The next best thing to having a tower. For someone learning
to fly they were better in a lot of ways. You didn't have to follow their
instructions but they were more than happy to give you traffic that had
called in and their approximate location and would warn you if there was
someone they knew was NORDO in the pattern or on the ground. They also had
DF equipment so the young student pilot who misplaced themselves while
practicing maneuvers could quickly, request a practice DF and be headed back
in the general direction of the airport. They also took all the weather
reports and posted them.


Uncle Sam paid for them the same way he pays for the FSS now. And technology
is what killed them it just became cheaper to consolidate them. In El Dorado
it was a done in phases. First the briefers went away and they hired guys to
come in and do the weather report duties then they did away with them and
replaced them with automated equipment.

ELD's switch to automation was accelerated by a year or two when the 23 year
old kid that was doing the night shift got caught with a cooler full of beer
and 6 friends, 3 of which were underage females in various states of
undress, in the "tower."

[Jose]

> Now think of where we are now. Where will we be when you are 109?

Considering how networked computers are so effective at deliniating our
options, I'd rather not think of the next 50 years.

Jose
--
Money: what you need when you run out of brains.
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