Twenty minutes in the queue awaiting the new and improved FSS

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Peter R. writes:

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?

Is there any other company competing with Lockheed Martin for this
business? If not, you can toss any promises in the wastebasket. For
profit-making corporations, the ideal is to provide the worst possible
quality and service at the highest possible price. And when a
corporation has a monopoly, this is exactly what happens.

Well, you have the market cornered on idiocy!

Bertie

"Peter R." wrote in message
...

Called Lockheed Martin FSS this AM for my flight briefing.


Why? No computer access?

On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:48:46 -0400, "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.

I am yet to wait over a minute, this is in the Chicago area which is
serviced by the Kankakee FSS station.

What were weather conditions when you called?

-Nathan

On 4/30/2007 9:08:21 PM, Nathan Young wrote:

What were weather conditions when you called?

Directly overhead my airport was CAVU. To the east was a line of t-storms and
farther out to the west (Ohio, Indiana, Iowa) also t-storms.

With the closure of the Buffalo FSS last month I believe our calls initially
route to Cleveland with overflow going to Leesburg, Virginia. Apparently
overflows from there go west, as demonstrated by the fact I ultimately talked
to a Phoenix, Az, briefer.

--
Peter

On Tue, 1 May 2007 09:30:02 -0400, "Peter R."
wrote:

On 4/30/2007 9:08:21 PM, Nathan Young wrote:

What were weather conditions when you called?

Directly overhead my airport was CAVU. To the east was a line of t-storms and
farther out to the west (Ohio, Indiana, Iowa) also t-storms.

With the closure of the Buffalo FSS last month I believe our calls initially
route to Cleveland with overflow going to Leesburg, Virginia. Apparently
overflows from there go west, as demonstrated by the fact I ultimately talked
to a Phoenix, Az, briefer.

What a bummer. Hopefully this is a one time occurence, and you will
not have to wait for a briefer each time the weather is crap.

You could always get a cell phone with a Chicago area code, which
should direct you to the Kankakee FSS. Like I said, they always seem
to pick up immediately. :-)

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
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 waited 10 minutes for a briefer this afternoon and eventually spoke with
someone in Indiana (I'm in Atlanta). The amazing thing is that the weather
in the Southeast was great today, so 90% of pilot briefings should have been
short and simple - Great VFR, no TFR's, enjoy the ride. Logically, with a
day like today, you wouldn't think calls would need to be transferred
outside the region.

The guy I spoke with at the FSS indicated that calls from West of the
Mississippi are not supposed to be routed to FSS'es east of the Mississippi,
but every 3rd or 4th call he has been taking is from West of the
Mississippi, which really bogs things down here in the East.

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.

KB

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
news

I waited 10 minutes for a briefer this afternoon and eventually spoke with
someone in Indiana (I'm in Atlanta). The amazing thing is that the weather
in the Southeast was great today, so 90% of pilot briefings should have
been short and simple - Great VFR, no TFR's, enjoy the ride. Logically,
with a day like today, you wouldn't think calls would need to be
transferred outside the region.

The guy I spoke with at the FSS indicated that calls from West of the
Mississippi are not supposed to be routed to FSS'es east of the
Mississippi, but every 3rd or 4th call he has been taking is from West of
the Mississippi, which really bogs things down here in the East.

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.


Why do you CALL for a briefing at all?

In article . net,
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:

Why do you CALL for a briefing at all?

I, for one, call because I can do it literally minutes before engine start.

--
Bob Noel
(goodness, please trim replies!!!)

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
In article . net,
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:

Why do you CALL for a briefing at all?

I, for one, call because I can do it literally minutes before engine
start.

WiFi.

In article ,
"Matt Barrow" wrote:

Why do you CALL for a briefing at all?

I, for one, call because I can do it literally minutes before engine
start.

WiFi.

$$$$ I'm not willing to spend.

--
Bob Noel
(goodness, please trim replies!!!)