who uses FSS?

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
m...

"Roger Tracy" wrote in message
...
I look at ADDS and WeatherTap. Then I get a DUATS briefing
and print it out. That takes care of the legal requirement. And DUATS is
a
good reference. If I need to file (IFR or VFR) I file it on DUATS. Other
than a bit after 9/11 while things were in turmoil .. I seldome talk to
FSS.

It's still in turmoil. You're well advised to continue to overburden the
system
by calling up to see if there are any new TFR's frequently to cover your
ass.



Concur. I also prefer not having to slog through 25 pages of TFRs looking
for changes.

Also, it costs about one hour of Avgas (single engine, 10gph) to have an
AOPA panel attorney for a year should you have to "phone a friend." Not an
ad, just my perspective. IIRC, the magic words when reaching the FSS
specialist are "standard briefing".

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
In article eFreb.28134$AH4.6479@lakeread06, "Robert Henry"
wrote:

I thought Mitre was working to answer this very question....

Really? Do you have a CAASD POC for this?



Nope. Looks like the study just ended in August, though.

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...03-3-055x.html

Looks like a map of the US with maybe 100 labeled dots on it for
each weather reporting station.


Well, that would be fine if they actually used the reporting stations as their
landmarks. Do they? I'm not sure they do.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

Dave Butler wrote:

I also am immersed in a computer environment all day,
so it's little to no extra hassle to get an online briefing.

Yeah, me too. I go nuts with the online weather, computer flight planning,
and DUAT filing. I've got all this stuff set up on computers both at home
and at work, including a laptop that I often take with me if I'm so
inclined.

But that only works on the outbound leg or places along the way where I am
relatively well-connected. I'm hardly a bush pilot, but that just isn't all
that often. FSS has been my best source of information at places as urban
as El Monte CA (late night departure), Laughlin NV (lousy hotel phone
system), and Hillsboro OR (too many students ahead of me in line for DUAT).

In cases like that, which I dare say represent well over half of my flights,
I am more than happy to plan my flight on a pad of paper, phone it in to
FSS, and go by their briefing. The main thing I miss is the chance to look
at a radar loop.

A lot of my flying is overnighters and multi-day trips, so while I enjoy
having home field advantage and throwing several thousands of dollars of
technology at the problem, it just isn't always an option. Sometimes flight
planning is more like backpacking than hooking up the RV to cable TV.


There's no setup time. Phoning FSS, on the
other hand, I have to navigate voicemail-hell.

"Press ONE to speak to a specialist"?

The least convenient thing about calling FSS is when you have to look up the
discrete 866 number (in the A/FD) that actually connects you to your local
FSS rather than the closest FSS to your cellular phone's area code and
exchange. If you want to file a flight plan out of Tucson, it doesn't do
any good to be talking to Oakland AFSS.

wrote in message
...


"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:

wrote in message
...

Plus, if radar coverage is nonexistant
until in the low flight levels, such as at KBIH, the relay works and
frees
up the center controller working traffic from having to work the
non-radar
arrivals and departures directly.


Frees up the controller? Clearances and instructions relayed through
FSS
are an additional burden on the controller. He has to talk to FSS on
the
phone while other aircraft are calling on the radio.

I'm sure that's true with a TRACON. But, doesn't the center have a data
person
that works with the FSS?

Nope. The "Data" person, aka a "D-side", is almost always one of those
things a busy Center controller wishes he had. The Center controller is
usually working the radio, the land line, pulling his own strips and
interfacing with FSS all by himself.


In the case of KBIH, I recall someone in the Air Traffic Division at the
WP
Region saying they didn't remote ZOA to the KBIH RCO because the center
didn't
want that link.


LOL, I'll betcha the ZOA controllers weren't even consulted... Under Maid
Marion's FAA, that would be par for the course...


Chip, ZTL

"John T" wrote in message
ws.com...

Perhaps I misunderstood the local head of training when he gave me a tour
a
few years ago.


Sounds like you did. A degree in meteorology is not required of FSS weather
briefers.

"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
. net

FSS specialists are NOT trained meteorologists. They are trained in
interpreting the data that they are given by the NWS.

Perhaps I misunderstood the local head of training when he gave me a tour a
few years ago.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/tknoFlyer
_______________

Years ago, FSS publicized they had a way of connecting callers over to a
meteorologist, upon request. Does that still exist? I doubt it.
I don't recall any time in the past fifty years that briefers were =
required
to be meteorologists.

On rare occasions, I've encountered briefers who had been meteorologists
in a former life, usually during military service. But when employed as
FSS briefers, their job is to disburse weather data, not interpret it.

In the old days, we pilots could walk into a weather station to get
aviation weather from an actual meteorologist.
That must be the reason they taught us the station model in ground =
school.
---JRC---

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message =
link.net...
=20
"John T" wrote in message
ws.com...

Perhaps I misunderstood the local head of training when he gave me a =
tour
a
few years ago.

=20
Sounds like you did. A degree in meteorology is not required of FSS =
weather
briefers.
=20

Thinking back, I recall it being done all different ways. The classic "40
miles NNE of Dipstick VOR, etc." Sometimes "eastern Kentucky and southern
Ohio" Sometimes "the panhandle of Florida". The latter are more useful if
the hearer is unfamiliar.
"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...

Looks like a map of the US with maybe 100 labeled dots on it for
each weather reporting station.


Well, that would be fine if they actually used the reporting stations as
their
landmarks. Do they? I'm not sure they do.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

One thing I haven't seen written up too much yet is that when GWB starts up
his reelection campaign, there will be a moving 30 mile radius, up to FL180,
TFR moving around the country with up to 5-6 different stops a day.

If they plan on hammering every one who blunders into these, the FAA
enforcement division will have a 10 year backlog and the F16s will run out
of flares.
"Robert Henry" wrote in message
news:_HIeb.30502$AH4.29102@lakeread06...

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
m...

"Roger Tracy" wrote in message
...
I look at ADDS and WeatherTap. Then I get a DUATS briefing
and print it out. That takes care of the legal requirement. And DUATS
is
a
good reference. If I need to file (IFR or VFR) I file it on DUATS.
Other
than a bit after 9/11 while things were in turmoil .. I seldome talk
to
FSS.

It's still in turmoil. You're well advised to continue to overburden
the
system
by calling up to see if there are any new TFR's frequently to cover your
ass.



Concur. I also prefer not having to slog through 25 pages of TFRs looking
for changes.

Also, it costs about one hour of Avgas (single engine, 10gph) to have an
AOPA panel attorney for a year should you have to "phone a friend." Not an
ad, just my perspective. IIRC, the magic words when reaching the FSS
specialist are "standard briefing".