Someone asked about if the Bridgeport FSS would follow up. Well they
did. I got a call from the Ops Mgr again this morning. I was never
really looking for resolution so much as I wanted them to be aware of
what happened. But what I was told was that the briefer was way out of
line telling me to depart VFR and to contact Boston Approach on that
frequency (it was 118.25, not the right frequency for my sector).

Net net, they are going to pass around their handbook of "how to be a
briefer" and get some recurrent training. A good thing (tm) we should
all do IMHO.

KC

Kevin Clarke wrote:
I'll try to make this long story brief.

On 7/29 I filed via DUATS an IFR departure from KFIT to KBHB via ENE.
This was at 1200Z. My proposed time off was 1500z. My morning went
quicker so when I got to the airport I called BDR FSS on the RCO
118.025 and amended my time off for 1300Z and filed for an alternate
KBGR.

They had no record of my flight plan and called into Boston to get the
info, which I thought was strange. After my runup I called BDR for my
clearance and the controller said, you want to leave now? I wanted the
clearance before I went wheels up because there was SCT at 020. I
didn't want to play dodge-ums, while copying the clearance and
programming the GNS. He said he couldn't get a clearance and would I
depart VFR and pickup my clearance with BOS APPCH on 118.125 (or some
such freq). he commented that that was a good frequency to use. Which
I thought was strange terminology. Normally in this area out of
Fitchburg we dial up BOS on 124.4. But wanting to get underway I
departed VFR, dialed up BOS for the clearance. They seemed surprised I
was airborne and had to scramble to get me the clearance. I got
vectored south-east (hdg 160) which is unusual for a departure out of
KFIT but eventually got my clearance and was turned on course direct ENE.

All along the route as I got transferred from controller to controller
they kept asking "where are you going?". So something was lost and not
in the system. If you check out flightaware.com (N15892) I apparently
diverted to Portland on this flight. Which I did not, it was 5000'
below me. :-) The whole thing was very strange.

The flight was uneventful (I shot a much better ILS through actual
this time into KBHB). I called up the comment line that was posted in
this newsgroup recently and reported my experience, plus some other
FSS weirdness that I experienced the next day trying to get a standard
briefing. Did you guys realize they can't give you a briefing for a
local flight? You have to go somewhere. BHB-BHB doesn't count as a
flight. At least that was what I was told. But I digress.

Anyway, yesterday the Ops Mgr from BDR called me as a followup and
went thru all this with me. He was very helpful and wanted to get
things right, which I thought was great. He commented that asking me
to depart VFR was a big no-no and that the frequency they gave me for
BOS was also wrong. Anyway, I'm waiting to hear the resolution but
wanted to share that the system of follow thru anyway is working and
some of the folks there are trying to make this FSS debacle right.

KC