What To Do About FSS?

J. Mac McClellan

Saturday, November 01, 2003 at 10:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The FAA is reviewing Flight Service Stations (FSS) primarily due to the high cost of human-delivered briefings compared to significantly cheaper and often more comprehensive digital alternatives like DUAT.
Many pilots are increasingly bypassing FSS in favor of readily available digital weather sources, including DUAT, ADDS, and in-cockpit systems, which offer similar or superior information more conveniently.
Despite some pilot preference for human interpretation, the article suggests technological advancements and cost pressures will likely lead to a drastic reduction in human FSS briefers, consolidation of services, or outsourcing of remaining functions.

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The FAA has conducted a study among pilots to determine how they use Flight Service Stations. The agency also hopes to determine what we like and don’t like about the FSS. Bottom line: the FAA is looking for reasons, or even cover, to radically change the FSS, or even eliminate it.

The FAA’s reason for examining the FSS operation is both sound and familiar. It’s cost. Every telephone briefing by an FSS specialist costs taxpayers many dollars, perhaps as much as $25, according to some estimates. The FAA spokesman couldn’t come up with a cost per briefing estimate. Every computer-delivered briefing over the direct user access terminal (DUAT) costs only about 50 cents. The difference is startling and certainly deserves examination in these times of tight budgets.