"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..
I was on the phone for the now-traditional 15 minute pre-brief hold today
and they had a new voice on the "hold line". Instead of an announcement
every 45 seconds about how busy they are and calls are taken on a first
come first served basis, and we'll take your call ASAP, there was a
message from the LockMart guy in charge of the FSS project.

Essentially "Sorry about the bad service. Increased seasonal volume has
swamped us. We're half way through the transition. It'll be better once
we complete the transition. We have about 3 more months of work to go to
reduce from 58 to 19 FSS's.

Of course, my cynical side thinks.. If we're halfway through the process
now, I guess we'll be really screwed when these guys complete the
process. Also, didn't LockMart anticipate that flight briefing requests
go up in the summer? Hello, McFly....

If it's sooooo important to you, why not suscribe to WxWorx, Jeppesen, or
Meteorix, or any of the similar services?

Do all of those services have a trained person on the line who looks at
weather several hours a day and can relate the trends they are seeing?
That's the big thing that a briefer offers.... "The forecast calls for "X",
but we're seeing rapid improvement (or worsening), and based on that, I
think the forecast may be pessimistic (or optimistic)...

Also, do all of those services record the briefing, just in case I need a
witness that I got a briefing? Say I get a full FSS briefing and no TFR's
are mentioned, despite my request for that info. Then, due to whatever
circumstance, I bust a TFR and get a F-16 escort. My opinion is that having
a bona fide record of an FSS briefing would be a very good piece of evidence
on my behalf...


--
Matt Barrow
Performace Homes, LLC.
Colorado Springs, CO