More stories of long FSS hold times and another issue

"Ron Garret" wrote in message
...
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.

And congress.


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.

Leave the FAA as is, and in a dozen years all the spam cans will be
relegated to VFR with virtually NO services.

As the ancient axiom goes, "Be (damn) cafeful what you ask for". (paren'ed
word- mone)

I've had similar experiences myself this past weekend. Ridiculous
hold times to get a clearance... finally took off in marginal VFR
and got the clearance at pattern altitude. On return I tried forever
to get through just to cancel IFR... finally gave up.

There should at least be a separate number to call for clearances
and for cancellations. Up until a few weeks ago we had an RCO to
flight service but that seems to be dead now. I use DUATS to
weather brief and file and that's always been great but at an
uncontrolled field you still need a way to get a clearance and
cancel when the weather is bad.

I guess they are going to tell us that if we want better service
we need to pay user fees. How aboutif all the other people that
receive government services (food stamps, welfare, SSI, housing,
fee medical care, etc. etc. start paying user fees?

"kontiki" wrote in message
...

There should at least be a separate number to call for clearances
and for cancellations. Up until a few weeks ago we had an RCO to
flight service but that seems to be dead now. I use DUATS to
weather brief and file and that's always been great but at an
uncontrolled field you still need a way to get a clearance and
cancel when the weather is bad.

Hmm... How hard would it be for them to configure 1800WXBRIEF to:
"Useing the touch tone phone enter your N number followed by the # sign."
Press 1 now to cancel all flight plans on file for the N number that you
have entered (verify with are you sure you want to cancel all flight plans
currently on file for "insert electronic voice".) Press 1 for yes, 2 for
no, 3 to go back to the main menu.
Press 2 to speak to a briefer

This may not work for multiple flight plans, but for the majority of people
it may work.

Of course, Press 1 would end up being something in Spanish...

Heck, I could even enter my N number and a series of 1's in my cell phone's
memory to have it "auto cancel" with a push of only a couple buttons.

Naah... this is something that just makes too much sense... it'll never
happen.

Jim

Press 1 now to cancel all flight plans on file for the N number that you
have entered

Great. Now a fellow club member can cancel my flight plan when he
cancels his? At least it gives FSS an excuse for lost flight plans.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Or 1-800-IFR-CANCEL

kontiki wrote:
Or 1-800-IFR-CANCEL

The Cancer Research Institute, in NY probably won't be any better at
closing flight plans than LM. They have the WX-CANCEL phone number.

Savannah Electric (has the IFR-CANCel number) may be a bit better, but
they would have to undergo some training.

Lol yep... but... I guess he could do that now if he wanted. Sorry, no
flight plan on file.

Maybe press 1 to cancel the oldest flight plan on file, press 9 to shoot
yourself in the head. Thank you for calling?
Jim

"Jose" wrote in message
t...
Press 1 now to cancel all flight plans on file for the N number that you
have entered

Great. Now a fellow club member can cancel my flight plan when he
cancels his? At least it gives FSS an excuse for lost flight plans.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no
universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jim Burns wrote:

Hmm... How hard would it be for them to configure 1800WXBRIEF to:
"Useing the touch tone phone enter your N number followed by the # sign."
Press 1 now to cancel all flight plans on file for the N number that you
have entered (verify with are you sure you want to cancel all flight plans
currently on file for "insert electronic voice".) Press 1 for yes, 2 for
no, 3 to go back to the main menu.
Press 2 to speak to a briefer

Sheesh... more menus... how about just a separate number.

Another idea would be to add a cancellation function to DUATS.

Exactly. My post was meant to be tongue in cheek. This is how I
pessimistically envision their "fix" to the situation.
Or they'll sub contract with Dell's PC techs in New Delhi to answer Flight
Plan Only questions. or maybe the XM Radio tech department, ever deal with
those geniuses? Airplane? no, we don't offer any XM services on commercial
flights, I think that's illegal, would you like to talk to our legal
department? Weather? Oh you have to call another number. (by the way, I
won't tell you that office is closed)
Jim

"kontiki" wrote in message
news
Jim Burns wrote:

Hmm... How hard would it be for them to configure 1800WXBRIEF to:
"Useing the touch tone phone enter your N number followed by the #
sign."
Press 1 now to cancel all flight plans on file for the N number that you
have entered (verify with are you sure you want to cancel all flight
plans
currently on file for "insert electronic voice".) Press 1 for yes, 2
for
no, 3 to go back to the main menu.
Press 2 to speak to a briefer

Sheesh... more menus... how about just a separate number.

Another idea would be to add a cancellation function to DUATS.

On May 11, 1:56 pm, "Peter R." wrote:
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

I always require my private and instrument students to call the FSS in
addition to using the computer. For new pilots, its very important to
have a human point out significant issues that may have missed (like a
giant icing AIRMET). I've had student pilots miss the fact that the
destination was reporting 2 SM even though every place inroute was
CAVU or instrument students miss a giant icing AIRMET.

-robert, CFII