My experience is that this is completely random. Sometimes my cellphone
gives me the local FSS correspondiong to where I am, sometimes it
gives me Oakland - as it would if I called it from my home airport, except
that there is no cellphone coverage at my home airport.

Generally, implementation of cellphones in the US calls to mind the
observation once made (a long time ago) about Englishwomen's
shoes: that they appear to have been made by someone who has
heard shoes described, but never actually seen one. It blows my mind
that the heart of Silicon Valley has grossly inadequate cellphone coverage,
for example, but it's true. And as for international roaming with a US
phone, good luck.

John

"James M. Knox" wrote in message
...
"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
news
A lot of people would have that ability if a lot of people knew N12345
was on an IFR flight to XYZ. On your typical IFR trips, how many
people know your N-number and destination?

My first thought is... "Anyone who paid $9.95 to Flight Explorer."

If you're going to imagine a new capability for IFR flight plans why
bother with FSS at all? Why not just route a call to 1-800-IFR-PLAN
to the appropriate ATC position?

Some of this is not the FAA's problem, it's the phone companies. There
is a mechanism the phone company offers that allows a call to an 800
number to be routed to a "local" service center. Unfortunately, this
was implemented before cell phones. There is NOT a mechanism (that I am
aware of) that allows the calls to be routed based on the LOCATION of
the cell phone, but rather only based on the "licensed" location of the
cell phone... i.e. home.

So if you buy your cell phone in New York, travel to LA, and call FSS -
you get New York FSS. It's dumb, but it's the way it is.

FWIW, I **would** normally have checked the AF/D (which now prints the
local FSS phone numbers), but I had not anticipated the need. The
forecast was for ceilings 6000, which would have easily allowed for both
canceling on the ground and likewise picking up my new clearance
airborne. [Usually good in that area down to about 1200 MSL.] But, as
we all know, there are forecasts, and there is *weather*!

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James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
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