AFSS response time

Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer is
getting longer and longer? I noticed this about a year ago when I still
lived in Florida and thought it was just a local problem. Now I live in
Virginia and they have the same problem here. It used to be you could get a
human on the phone in a minute or so. Now it is taking about 5 to 10.

Is this how the FAA is trying to kill the FSS system? They have made no
bones about wanting to reduce the coast of the FSS system.

[it took forever to get a briefer] when I still lived in Florida [...]
Now I live in Virginia and they have the same problem here.
[...] They have made no bones about wanting to reduce
the coast of the FSS system.


Go further inland.

(sorry, couldn't resist.

Jose

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

" wrote in message
ink.net...
Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer
is
getting longer and longer? I noticed this about a year ago when I still
lived in Florida and thought it was just a local problem. Now I live in
Virginia and they have the same problem here. It used to be you could get
a
human on the phone in a minute or so. Now it is taking about 5 to 10.

Is this how the FAA is trying to kill the FSS system? They have made no
bones about wanting to reduce the coast of the FSS system.




I generally do my Instrument training in the morning (6 or 7 am). I have
only once gone directly through to a briefer, but generally my wait on hold
has been no more than say 5 minutes or so, hasn't been a problem.

--
Louis L. Perley III
N46000 - C152
N370 - PA-23-250

I live in Southern NV.. our 1-800 WX Brief gets us the Reno FSS.. option 1,
speak to briefer..
takes about 1 min or less on average to get a briefer... but this afternoon
it did take more time.. but still less than one minute.

BT

" wrote in message
ink.net...
Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer
is
getting longer and longer? I noticed this about a year ago when I still
lived in Florida and thought it was just a local problem. Now I live in
Virginia and they have the same problem here. It used to be you could get
a
human on the phone in a minute or so. Now it is taking about 5 to 10.

Is this how the FAA is trying to kill the FSS system? They have made no
bones about wanting to reduce the coast of the FSS system.

Up in Boston I usually get Bridgeport and occasionally Burlington or Bangor.
I've never held more than a minute or so and usually get a briefer within 15
seconds of pressing 1. Due to TFRs etc. I call for a live briefing before
any flight beyond the local area, VFR or IFR, and have never had a problem
getting through.

-cwk.

We use Leesburg VA AFSS, and the hold times have been awful. They claim
staffing shortages, but ADIZ doesn't help matters.

" wrote in message
ink.net...
Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer
is
getting longer and longer? I noticed this about a year ago when I still
lived in Florida and thought it was just a local problem. Now I live in
Virginia and they have the same problem here. It used to be you could get
a
human on the phone in a minute or so. Now it is taking about 5 to 10.

Is this how the FAA is trying to kill the FSS system? They have made no
bones about wanting to reduce the coast of the FSS system.

The impostion of TFR's has been a boon to the AFSS system.
Whereas in the past, pilots used to just do a DUAT's brief, the creation
of the rolling TFR has made the AFSS brief the best protection you can
get. It's recorded so you can replay exactly what you were briefed.

wrote:
Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer is
getting longer and longer? I noticed this about a year ago when I still
lived in Florida and thought it was just a local problem. Now I live in
Virginia and they have the same problem here. It used to be you could get a
human on the phone in a minute or so. Now it is taking about 5 to 10.

Is this how the FAA is trying to kill the FSS system? They have made no
bones about wanting to reduce the coast of the FSS system.

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 22:56:48 GMT, "
wrote in
. net::

Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer is
getting longer and longer?

I've noticed that the wait time for a briefer is directly proportional
to the severity of the local weather. On clear days, the wait for a
briefer to answer is about 10 seconds maximum. Poor weather can
increase the wait time to 5 minutes. This is with Hawthorne FSS in
the Los Angeles area.

Ditto for the Kankakee (Illinois) FSS. Option 1 for a briefer,
usually available in under 1 minute.

-Nathan


On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 20:42:19 -0700, "BTIZ"
wrote:

I live in Southern NV.. our 1-800 WX Brief gets us the Reno FSS.. option 1,
speak to briefer..
takes about 1 min or less on average to get a briefer... but this afternoon
it did take more time.. but still less than one minute.

BT

" wrote in message
link.net...
Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer
is
getting longer and longer? I noticed this about a year ago when I still
lived in Florida and thought it was just a local problem. Now I live in
Virginia and they have the same problem here. It used to be you could get
a
human on the phone in a minute or so. Now it is taking about 5 to 10.

Is this how the FAA is trying to kill the FSS system? They have made no
bones about wanting to reduce the coast of the FSS system.

Ft Worth AFSS always seems to go right through. I think the max I've ever
waited was about 1 minute. Of course, as others noted, I'm VFR only so I
don't test the system on bad weather days.

I'll also second what the others say about checking for TFRs. Regardless of
how much preflight information I get off the computer/DUAT/etc., I always
call AFSS, even on short hops, just so that I have a record of checking on
NOTAMs.

Carl

" wrote in message
ink.net...
Has anyone else noticed that the time you're on hold to talk to a briefer
is
getting longer and longer? I noticed this about a year ago when I still
lived in Florida and thought it was just a local problem. Now I live in
Virginia and they have the same problem here. It used to be you could get
a
human on the phone in a minute or so. Now it is taking about 5 to 10.

Is this how the FAA is trying to kill the FSS system? They have made no
bones about wanting to reduce the coast of the FSS system.