How to Spend Less Time With 1-800-WXBRIEF

Lockheed Martin, which operates the flight service briefings under contract to the government, has introduced a program designed to save time on phone briefings and when filing flight plans. Pilots can set up a personal profile that, based on the telephone number called from, will automatically populate the briefer's screen with boilerplate information such as name, address, ratings, telephone numbers, emergency contact information and more. Pilots can also include aircraft information such as fuel capacity, cruise speed and equipment in their profiles, and they can list data on more than one airplane. Finally, pilots can save up to 20 "favorite flights" for instant retrieval. The goal is to reduce the time required to file flight plans and obtain weather briefings.