For years, Flight Service Stations have been the “Rodney Dangerfields” of general aviation: they got no respect, no respect at all. Some of that began to change in 2005, when Lockheed Martin took over operation of 58 Automated Flight Service Stations from the FAA. Slowly, things began to get better: Wait times shortened, briefers tried harder, fewer flight plans got lost. In recent months, I noticed what I consider substantial improvement at the Leesburg (Va.) facility and others. All that began to decline again earlier this year, however, as hold times lengthened and briefers were clearly more harried and under greater pressure than before. But in April, the bottom fell out. Suddenly, wait times got longer. Briefers clearly wanted me off the phone as soon as possible-gone were the days of a friendly chat or the opportunity to express a deeply felt thanks for their service. Since then, unbelievably, its gotten worse. 288
You Call This Progress?
For years, Flight Service Stations have been the "Rodney Dangerfields" of general aviation: they got no respect, no respect at all. Some of that began to change in 2005, when Lockheed Martin took over operation of 58 Automated Flight Service Stations from the FAA. Slowly, things began to get better: Wait times shortened, briefers tried harder, fewer flight plans got lost. In recent months, I noticed what I consider substantial improvement at the Leesburg (Va.) facility and others.
Key Takeaways:
- After initial improvements post-2005, Flight Service Station (FSS) quality has significantly declined since early 2007, leading to extended wait times, lost calls, and rushed or poorly trained briefers.
- Pilots are experiencing issues with basic tasks and security-related airspace requests, with briefers often unable to assist or taking too long.
- This deterioration is primarily due to Lockheed Martin's consolidation of 58 FSS facilities down to 20, a process causing disruptions like training bottlenecks and calls being routed to briefers across the country.
Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->
See a mistake? Contact us.
