who uses FSS?

jfee wrote:


You dont' even need them to cya, as long as you get a briefing through Duats
(which is built-in to flitestar).


Can you get reasonable TFR data from Flightstar? Regular duats is completely worthless for TFRs in my opinion.

I agree with the folks that supplement their computer briefings with FSS. That seems like the smart way to go and that's what I do for any flight out of the local area. And unless you carry a laptop everywhere, FSS may be your only option when away from home.

In article ,
(Teacherjh) wrote:

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.

Yes they do.

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

"Press ONE to speak to a specialist"?

One of the problems is that not every FSS has the same phone system.
Depending on where you get connected, you may have to press ONE, or STAR
ONE, or who knows what else to get connected to a human being.

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.

You would think by now the FAA would have discovered this wonderthing
thing called a network. You know, that wonderful thing Al Gore invented
:-) For $19/month and a junky PC, anybody can sit in their own living
room and exchange email, netnews, IRC, web, etc with friends around the
world, but the FAA hasn't yet figured out how to get a flight plan from
Oakland to Tucson without manual intervention.

"Dan Thompson" wrote in message
news
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.


You DO know the intercept procedure in *IMC* should you go lost comms and
blunder into one of those "oh-let's-stop-here-and-shake-some-hands-PTFRs."

Reminds me of KAL007. It's only a matter of time.

--

Bob
PP-ASEL-IA, A/IGI

Craig Prouse wrote:
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.

Good point. I carry a laptop with linux loaded with all the access phone numbers
for my ISP, but still it's usually less hassle to just make the phone call from
the away-from-home FBO.

Dave

Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

"Robert Henry" wrote in message news:_HIeb.30502$AH4.29102@lakeread06...

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

We have been told we can not rely on sources other than FSS.


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".


Phoning a friend won't get you out of a certain certificate violation if you bust
a TFR or other special "security" airspace.

"Robert Henry" wrote in message news:LNIeb.30515$AH4.9125@lakeread06...

"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

The survey was, in my opinion, a peice of crap. It was extremely slanted
to elicit the opinion that the FSS ability to filter and interpret information was
an important service to pilots. Bullcrap. The FSS is the most common way
to NOT get NOTAMS. Unfortuantely, the NOTAM system is busted, and to
be safe I got to do the belt and suspenders: FSS and computer based search.

"Dan Thompson" wrote in message
m...
Thinking back, I recall it being done all different ways. The classic "40
miles NNE of Dipstick VOR, etc."

That might be used by a FSS, during a briefing, but never would be in the
original NWS report.

Which might be appropriate to a LOCAL condition...only.

Sometimes "eastern Kentucky and southern
Ohio" Sometimes "the panhandle of Florida". The latter are more useful
if
the hearer is unfamiliar.

When they are relaying wide-spread weather conditions, such as a front (the
original context) they will use more common and general landmarks, such as
cities and towns (usually major ones).

Tom

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Teacherjh) wrote:

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.

Yes they do.

So when they say "...a front moving over the Front Range of the Rockies,
extending from Cheyenne to Colorado Springs...", what reporting station(s)
are they referring to?

Tom

"Michael 182" wrote in message
news:JEHeb.655738$uu5.107349@sccrnsc04...
You're missing the point. Of course we can all read a map. The point is to
get the appropriate info *and* save time in briefings, not extend it by
proving our map reading abilities.

"Tom S." wrote in message
...

If you're that bad at reading a map, especially a map for the area
you're
flying in, I dare say you should be grounded.

And the "appropriate info" concerning weather (especially wide spread
conditions) is graphically positioned...how? If you're trying to bypass a
front, how far would you have to go if you don't know the area you're
in/transiting? How would you know how to proceed?