More stories of long FSS hold times and another issue

This past week I spoke with a CFII out of Michigan who lamented that his and
his students hold times awaiting a live FSS briefer had significantly
increased to between 30 minutes to one hour. Coincidentally both AOPA and
Avweb had articles this week discussing the frustration of long hold times
many are experiencing.

For those rather myopic pilots whose knee-jerk response is to say to use a
computer for all briefings and flight plan filings, consider this: Those of
us who volunteer for Lifeguard flights now have a real concern about being
able to file an IFR flight plan and receive a briefing over the phone, if
away from home/office when the call for the flight comes in.

For example, I am on the call list for a heart transplant patient who only
has a two hour window to arrive into his transplant city's airport. I live
and base my aircraft in the city where the patient will be departing. With 30
minutes allotted to drive to the airport and prepare the aircraft for flight
and another 1 hr and 15 minutes to perform the flight, this leaves very
little extra time.

Logically if the call comes in while I am away from a computer (restaurant,
shopping, etc), it makes the most sense to file over the phone and receive a
briefing while driving to the airport, given that this time is built into the
narrow window needed. If these hold times are not reduced, this time savings
step will not be an option.

Additionally, in my case there is a real possibility that a computer will not
be available at the airport since both my class C airport's FBOs lock up for
the night between midnight and 5:00 am. I guess filing with clearance
delivery and receiving a flight briefing from FSS when in the air will be the
fallback here.

In addition to filling out Lockheed Martin's survey and complaint form, I
have also emailed AOPA with my concerns about the above scenario. These
problems with FSS cannot continue.

--
Peter

Just within the past week I have had the "system" lose two flight plans that
were entered by the computer. When I called on the land line, there was no
answer for over 20 minutes.

According to some of the FS briefers, their computer has also been losing
some flight plans as well.

So far the privatization has been a great success.

"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
Just within the past week I have had the "system" lose two flight plans
that were entered by the computer. When I called on the land line, there
was no answer for over 20 minutes.

According to some of the FS briefers, their computer has also been losing
some flight plans as well.

So far the privatization has been a great success.


That never happened under the old system?

The old FSS: brought to you by the same folks that brought you the Postal
(Dis)service, Amtrak, INS, and 5,000 other agencies! :~)

Matt Barrow wrote:


That never happened under the old system?

Actually, no. I always have had very good service
under the old system, to be perfectly honest.

"kontiki" wrote in message
...
Matt Barrow wrote:


That never happened under the old system?

Actually, no. I always have had very good service
under the old system, to be perfectly honest.

I've had long waits, rude service, poor information.

Maybe my luck was different, or maybe my standards are higher than yours.

Or maybe I just would rather pay my own way and not have taxpayers hold my
hand.

On Fri, 11 May 2007 16:11:47 -0500, "Viperdoc"
wrote:


So far the privatization has been a great success.


I have to admit that I do most of my weather and filing via computer,
only calling FSS for changes and last minute updates.

I can't complain, yet...

Below is an email which I received from a local pilot. I attended a
Wisconsin DOT Aviation Safety meeting several weeks ago and many attending
pilots had similar complaints. The Wisconsin DOT rep told that most calls
from Wisconsin are currently being handled by the Princeton FSS while
Lansing and Kankakee under go "modernization". Once Lansing and Kankakee
are fully operational our calls will be routed those directions.

So it seems to me that there are several problems converging at once causing
most bottlenecks and cluster*ucks. Closing FSS's while
refurbishing/upgrading/modernizing/bsing other FSS's and also
relocating/retraining current or hiring/training briefers sounds like a
pretty good recipe for disaster. Not only is it frustrating for the pilots,
but it must be frustrating for the briefers as well. Great for moral and
quality of service. Not.

Jim

Please forward this to any other concerned parties you may know...

Most of us have been experiencing problems with flight service since Green
Bay AFSS closed its doors. Some of the problems are serious in nature and
are becoming more frequent in occurrence. Issues range from long hold
times, poor audio quality, and briefers being unfamiliar with our area to
hold times exceeding 30 minutes and briefers lacking knowledge of aviation
in general. Having experienced most of these problems myself and hearing
about all of them from fellow pilots in the past 5 days, I've investigated
further.

I have spent a lot of time on the phone with AOPA today. It seems that we
are not the only ones having these problems (go figure). Lockheed has
convened a "crisis" meeting and will hopefully have a plan of action. That
being said, we've all heard it before--It is imperative that someone that
can do something about these safety of flight issues hear about them.

AOPA appears to be our best ally at this point. They continue to compile a
database of specific instances and will continue to present them to Lockheed
Martin and government officials. The goal being to hold Lockheed to the
standards set forth in their (LM) contract with FAA.

So here is what we (this means you) need to do: When you experience
problems with flight service, and you can expect to at this point, please
use about five minutes of your time to call AOPA and let them know about it.
They will want your N-number, approximate time you called/contacted Flight
Service, and the specific issues you experienced. 1-800-USA-AOPA is their
number; push 1 at the menu. I have never had to hold for more than about 1
minute with AOPA, including today. Hopefully your experiences are no
different--because telling someone about these issues is the only way to get
them fixed.

Please! Take the time to tell AOPA about the problems we are having with
Flight Service. We need to keep the current "crisis" situation from
becoming the norm and ultimately losing this valuable and necessary
resource.

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...


AOPA appears to be our best ally at this point. They continue to compile
a
database of specific instances and will continue to present them to
Lockheed
Martin and government officials. The goal being to hold Lockheed to the
standards set forth in their (LM) contract with FAA.

So here is what we (this means you) need to do: When you experience
problems with flight service, and you can expect to at this point, please
use about five minutes of your time to call AOPA and let them know about
it.
They will want your N-number, approximate time you called/contacted Flight
Service, and the specific issues you experienced. 1-800-USA-AOPA is their
number; push 1 at the menu. I have never had to hold for more than about
1
minute with AOPA, including today. Hopefully your experiences are no
different--because telling someone about these issues is the only way to
get
them fixed.

Please! Take the time to tell AOPA about the problems we are having with
Flight Service. We need to keep the current "crisis" situation from
becoming the norm and ultimately losing this valuable and necessary
resource.

Did anyone do this reporting under the old system?

"Jim Burns" wrote

Please! Take the time to tell AOPA about the problems we are having with
Flight Service. We need to keep the current "crisis" situation from
becoming the norm and ultimately losing this valuable and necessary
resource.

Wow. All of this from the FAA, who is now solidly in bed (so it would seem)
with the airlines.

All of this is spinning (rapidly) out of control, I fear. Is it too late to
save it?

I would say that the next year, or possibly six months, may decide if
general aviation will survive in any manner that is close to as good as what
we have now.

Is that overly pessimistic?

Wow!
--
Jim in NC

In article ,
"Morgans" wrote:

"Jim Burns" wrote

Please! Take the time to tell AOPA about the problems we are having with
Flight Service. We need to keep the current "crisis" situation from
becoming the norm and ultimately losing this valuable and necessary
resource.

Wow. All of this from the FAA, who is now solidly in bed (so it would seem)
with the airlines.

All of this is spinning (rapidly) out of control, I fear. Is it too late to
save it?

I would say that the next year, or possibly six months, may decide if
general aviation will survive in any manner that is close to as good as what
we have now.

Is that overly pessimistic?

Heck, I think it's an open question whether the whole COUNTRY will
survive in any manner that is close to as good as what we have now, let
alone GA.

rg

---
* This emoticon deliberately left blank.