Flight Planning's New Age

Anyone who's picked up the phone to obtain a weather briefing from an FAA Flight Service Station (FSS) in recent weeks has discovered the ongoing consolidation by federal contractor Lockheed Martin (LockMart) isn't going so well.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Lockheed Martin's consolidation of FAA Flight Service Stations has severely degraded service, leading to long hold times, uneven briefings, and a $3 million fine due to a lack of local knowledge and interpretive capability.
The loss of professional FSS briefers means pilots no longer have access to human interpretation of raw weather data, which is crucial for safety and not fully replaced by automated online services.
General Aviation pilots must now cultivate their own local weather knowledge and interpretation skills by observing conditions, discussing with other pilots, and correlating forecasts with real-world observations.
Ultimately, this shift places greater responsibility on individual pilots to become self-sufficient in gathering and interpreting weather information to ensure flight safety.

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Anyone whos picked up the phone to obtain a weather briefing from an FAA Flight Service Station (FSS) in recent weeks has discovered the ongoing consolidation by federal contractor Lockheed Martin (LockMart) isnt going so well. Lengthy hold times have been common, if the telephone is answered at all. Once a pilot gets to speak with a briefer, the service has been, shall we say, uneven. Recognizing this, the FAA recently announced a $3 million fine against LockMart for failing to live up to the terms of its contract.