Twenty minutes in the queue awaiting the new and improved FSS

"Jose" wrote in message
. net...

I don't know that I'm not interested in it until I read it. A telephone
briefer has already read it.


But he doesn't know that you're not interested in it, he's going to read it
to you anyway.



I get my pictures with CIRRUS (which is, I suppose a DUATs interface),
AccuWeather, and Unisis. Other places too, depending.


One stop shopping with DTC DUAT.

But he doesn't know that you're not interested in it, he's going to read it
to you anyway.

No, that turns out not to be the case. He figures out what I am
probably interested in, and what I'm probably not interested in, and
gets it right. For example, if the weather is the same all up and down
the coast except for this and that, here and there, he will (generally)
give me the weather at a few typical stations, say it's pretty much all
the same, and then give me the exceptions.

I would have to read all the reports in order to find the exceptions.
This way I don't. He doesn't either, since he's already seen the stuff
before.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

My first experience trying to get a clearance on the ground via
Lockheed today. Weather was very marginal VFR. I normally wait
to get the clearance in the air, but with 1500 broken, I would
have to fly pretty close to Fayetteville before they could hear
me and I just didn't feel comfortable puttering along that low.
Tried the GCO, but no one answered. Plane behind me on taxiway is
asking whether I'm trying GCO. "Yeah, but they're not answering.
I'll try the cell phone." He says, "Yeah, I can't get through either,
but it's always a crapshoot with GCO here." Actually, I usually
have pretty good luck with the GCO, but I've got a nice Lightspeed
headset that I can plug my phone into and WXBRIEF takes me directly
to RDU FSS. Well, it used to...

"Welcome to Lockheed Martin flight services. Please speak your
response at any time..."

"Briefer"

"What state are you departing from?"

"North Carolina"

"I think you said South Carolina. Is that correct?"

"No"

"Please speak your response at any time..."

"Briefer"

"What state are you departing from?"

"North Carolina"

"I think you said North Dakota. Is that correct?"

"No"

"Please speak...."

Finally they seem to break through my pseudo southern drawl.

"Hi. I'm Dan Corrain, the Lockheed Martin Flight Service Program
Manager. I am very aware that you are currently experiencing unacceptable
wait times..."

this message from Dan continues for about two minutes. I have no idea
whether this would get interrupted by a briefer or whether they
are so certain that I can't get an answer in that time that they
feel they may as well make me listen to an apology as Muzak...
Fifteen minutes pass.

Guy behind me: "Did you get through?"

Me: "I'm on hold"

"Me too..."

Five more minutes.

"Macon flight service"

"Um, N2325Q on the ground at Sanford, North Carolina. I'd like to pick
up my IFR clearance to Sierra Uniform Tango."

"Hold on... uh... I need to transfer..mumble mumble mumble..."

30 seconds of nothing.

Me: "Hello"

Macon: "Yeah, hold on, I'm trying to find the number for Raleigh. You
didn't do anything wrong, but they sent you to the wrong controller..."

Guy behind me: "I'm going leave VFR, can you move off the taxiway?"

Me (to the guy behind me): "Yeah, I'm still trying to get a clearance"

Macon: "Sir, I'm trying to get you that, please hold on"

Me: "I was talking to the plane behind me, he's going to leave VFR"

Macon: "Are you leaving VFR?"

Me: "Negative, I had to exit the taxi way to let the plane behind me
leave VFR".

Macon: "Ah... ok..." click.. buzzzz... dial...

"Raleigh Flight Service."

"N2325Q on the ground at Sanford...."

"Hold for your clearance..."

5 minutes later, the line goes dead. Am I going to go through that
again? No. ASOS is now saying 2000 broken. Good enough for me.

Hooray for privitization. The free market Peter Principle is in
full swing. And 45 minutes of my 400 minutes a month cell phone
time gone into the ether.

--
Don Poitras

"Don Poitras" wrote in message
...


Hooray for privitization. The free market Peter Principle is in
full swing. And 45 minutes of my 400 minutes a month cell phone
time gone into the ether.

You should get a government cell phone.

And call your local DMV or Post Office.

"MB" == Matt Barrow writes:

MB And call your local DMV or Post Office.

Why? Answering the phone is not their primary job or method of
service, but it is for LockMart FSS.

--
Too bad you can't just grab a tree by the very tip-top and bend
it clear over the ground and then let her fly, because I bet
you'd be amazed at all the stuff that comes flying out.
- Jack Handey

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
On 5/1/2007 10:06:23 PM, "Kyle Boatright" wrote:

If waits are going to be this long and longer, are there any other viable
options to A) Get a briefing and B) Have a record of the briefing? I can
satisfy "A" through the internet, but I'm not sure an online brief would
stand up very well in my defense if I busted a pop-up TFR or something,
especially since (presumably) there might not be a viable record of my
online brief.

DUATs.com or DUAT.com are the two other "official" flight briefing choices
that will record your session, from what I understand.

--
Peter

I use DUATs most flights. After getting the full results of the briefing, I
"save as" and change the filename to include the date before exiting the web
browser page. The .html file (mostly text) contains the date and
"transaction number" so I figure that is a fairly good proof that I got a
briefing. I much prefer a personal archive rather than counting on the
DUATS provider or the 'govment to cover my butt.

John Severyn
LVK Livermore, Ca.

LockMart's AFSS Feedback system is back on-line:
http://afss.com/feedback/

Call me cynical, but intentionally frustrating pilots by making them
wait interminably on hold for an FSS briefing, thus driving many of
them to DUATS, could be good business for LockMart.

It will be interesting to see just how culpable LockMart will be if
pilots are violated as a result of AFSS ineptitude:

NEW FSS IN THE OL' ADIZ (WITH POTOMAC AIRFIELD'S DAVID WARTOFSKY)
(http://www.avweb.com/alm?podcast20070514&kw=AVwebAudio)
Last week, Lockheed Martin began final implementation of its new
flight services system in the Washington area, and it didn't go
exactly according to plan. There were dropped flight plans and a
lot of frustrated pilots who suddenly found themselves dealing
with briefers who didn't understand the procedures for flying in
the restricted airspace around the capital. David Wartofsky, who
owns Potomac Airfield near Washington, tells AVweb's Russ Niles
that it was interesting for a couple of days but operations are
returning to normal, at least what passes for normal in that
airspace.

Click here (http://www.avweb.com/podcast/files/2007-05-14.mp3) to
listen.



Oh yeah, and "the check's in the mail":

FAA'S BLAKEY PROMISES QUICK FIX FOR FSS
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195217)
"The top levels of both the FAA and Lockheed Martin are now
engaged and committed to fixing the significant problems pilots
are experiencing with the new flight service station (FSS)
system," AOPA said
(http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...70515afss.html) on
Tuesday. AOPA President Phil Boyer spent nearly an hour on the
phone with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey on Sunday, and another
hour with her and her deputy on Monday. "I have their pledge that
they will do whatever it takes to ensure pilots get the safety of
flight information that they need and deserve," he said. Problems
with the system worsened in recent weeks, as Lockheed Martin began
consolidating the old FAA flight service stations at the rate of
three a week. Computer updates were incomplete, and spring weather
brought an increase in flying. "I have great difficulty
understanding why it has taken so long for those FAA employees
responsible for the Lockheed Martin contract to address a safety
of flight issue," Boyer said. According to Lockheed Martin program
manager Dan Courain
(http://www.lmafsshr.com/msg20070510.asp), a series of software
updates that are scheduled for the next few weeks should resolve
the transition problems and "allow [workers] to focus on the
pilot's needs, rather than the system's performance."
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195217










On Wed, 02 May 2007 14:02:00 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote in :

On Tue, 01 May 2007 15:08:18 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote in :

On Tue, 1 May 2007 09:39:18 -0400, "Peter R."
wrote in :

I know I
would feel more confident talking to a briefer familiar with local Colorado
Rocky Mountain-induced weather more so than a briefer in (Florida, Ohio,
Maine, or anywhere else but there) who can only read the text from the
current and forecast conditions.

Did you mention that in your complaints to:

http://www.afss.com/feedback/
http://surveys.aopa.org/cgi-bin/qweb...cgi?idx=SP46SS


There's more AFSS contact information he
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/...d_martin_info/

Dan Courain: Director, Lockheed Martin FS21 Team:
?subject=Feedback/Comments

http://www.faa.gov/contact/
Flight Service Stations: Send comments or complaints about weather
briefings and other flight planning services provided to pilots
through the Flight Service Stations, to: .
http://www.faa.gov/contact_faa/?retu...5FHB4D8%2AL%0A

http://www.lmafsshr.com/

Federal Aviation Administration
1-866-TELL-FAA (1-866-835-5322)

On Apr 30, 10:48 am, "Peter R." wrote:
Called Lockheed Martin FSS this AM for my flight briefing. Spent 20 minutes
in the "we are experiencing high call volume" queue waiting for a live
briefer to take my call.

When one finally did, he was servicing my upstate NY state flight from
Phoenix, Az. Nice enough briefer but so much for the local knowledge.

Wasn't there a promise by Lockheed Martin that wait times would be one minute
or less? In the four years I have been commuting by aircraft the longest I
previously waited for a Buffalo FSS briefer was five minutes.

--
Peter

I guess everyone has different priorities. I am a VFR only pilot who
uses DUATS along with other online sources. I usually check the day
before to get a handle on trends. It was quite interesting today on
the scanner today to hear a pilot contact several sources for weather
info, each time relating his story of waiting on hold for 40 minutes
and still not getting a briefing. Then he adds that this is the first
time in seven years that he has flown VFR, as if it's some kind of a
traumatic event. I look out the window and there's not a cloud in the
sky. I check the weather and there's not a cloud in 300 miles. Do some
really need a nanny holding their hand all the time?
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

On 18 May 2007 19:32:42 -0700, Gene Seibel wrote in
. com:

Do some really need a nanny holding their hand all the time?

Apparently the military do. They are always supposed to be on an IFR
flight plan.

On 2007-05-13, Don Poitras wrote:

My first experience trying to get a clearance on the ground via
Lockheed today. ... Tried the GCO, but no one answered. Plane behind
me on taxiway is asking whether I'm trying GCO. "Yeah, but they're
not answering.

I had the same issue.. tried to get ahold of Kankakee in the Chicago
area around 2am, and go no answer after making multiple attempts on
all the frequencies in the area. It's a little unnerving to fly VFR
at night w/out flight following. Is Lockheed now in charge of all
FSS's?

--
PM instructions: do a C4esar Ciph3r on my address; retain punctuation.