New FSS Policy

But if they are just going to call the number several times until I answer
or close my flight plan they are wasting their time.

I wan them to wait a reasonable amount of time after my ETA and then call
whatever number I give them and if I or someone that knows I landed doesn't
answer I want them to call out the SAR.


"Marco Leon" mmleon(at)yahoo.com wrote in message
...
Well, I was responding to the post about the fear of having the wife
getting
histerical because of the call from the FSS. I am assuming (maybe
incorrectly) that the FSS will attempt to call you cell number more than
once if they don't get you. After all, that's the only phone number on the
flight plan.

A freind of mine once forgot to close his VFR flight plan landing at an
uncontrolled field with only a payphone for "facilities." The FSS wound up
calling the town's public works maintenance department to verify he was on
the ground. Leaving his cell number would have probably averted that
situation.

Marco Leon

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
".Blueskies." writes:


"Marco Leon" mmleon(at)yahoo.com wrote in message
...
So now you know--give them your cell phone number!

So who has a cell phone?

...and how would putting your cell phone number on a flight
plan help in the event that the flight plan actually has to
be used for its intended purpose?

Can it just be left blank?

--kyler



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"Mark T. Dame" wrote in message
...

I've filed exactly one VFR flight plan since I got my ticket and that
was only six weeks after I got it. It was my first serious cross
country flight (300+ miles and 3 - 4 hours each way). After that I
decided it wasn't worth it.

Not until they have to look for you.


I would agree with that, but now anything over 100 miles I'll file IFR
even on a CAVU day: ATC can terminate your FF, but not your IFR flight
plan.

Not everyone has an instrument rating (unfortunately) so IFR is not an
option. Even if you file VFR and don't activate it, I would think they could
pull up the records for a period of time to find out what your planned route
was.

-m
--
## Mark T. Dame
## VP, Product Development
## MFM Software, Inc. (http://www.mfm.com/)
"Forget the Joneses, I keep us up with the Simpsons."

On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 15:43:27 -0600, "Gig 601XL Builder"
wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote:

But if they are just going to call the number several times until I answer
or close my flight plan they are wasting their time.

I wan them to wait a reasonable amount of time after my ETA and then call
whatever number I give them and if I or someone that knows I landed doesn't
answer I want them to call out the SAR.

I landed at Gainesville GA around midnight. Every thing was closed. A
car had been left for us. We signed in at a motel and I *tried* to
call FSS. The phones were out. So, I spent the next hour and a half
driving around until I finally found a phone that worked. That made
my call about 4 hours late.

FSS: Hello
Me: I'd like to close my flight plan. Sorry about being late, but I
couldn't find a phone that works around here.
FSS. No problem. You say you're late?
Me: yah, by about 4 hours.
FSS: Hmmm I guess you would call that a bit late. Thanks for calling
to close the flight plan.

Apparently different parts of the country place differing emphasis on
being late.

In all fairness this was also about 10 years ago.

OTOH we flew into BJC (Jefferson County, Boulder Colorado) snaking our
way around some really nasty stuff. Tornados, soft ball size hail
(which did a few million dollars worth of damage just to roofs).

We were a tad late due to the weather, but only by about 15 to 20
minutes. The guy at FSS really chewed me out for not calling to tell
them I'd be late.

Mountains at night, storms in the day, different responses from
different areas.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


"Marco Leon" mmleon(at)yahoo.com wrote in message
...
Well, I was responding to the post about the fear of having the wife
getting
histerical because of the call from the FSS. I am assuming (maybe
incorrectly) that the FSS will attempt to call you cell number more than
once if they don't get you. After all, that's the only phone number on the
flight plan.

A freind of mine once forgot to close his VFR flight plan landing at an
uncontrolled field with only a payphone for "facilities." The FSS wound up
calling the town's public works maintenance department to verify he was on
the ground. Leaving his cell number would have probably averted that
situation.

Marco Leon

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
".Blueskies." writes:


"Marco Leon" mmleon(at)yahoo.com wrote in message
...
So now you know--give them your cell phone number!

So who has a cell phone?

...and how would putting your cell phone number on a flight
plan help in the event that the flight plan actually has to
be used for its intended purpose?

Can it just be left blank?

--kyler



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"Chris" wrote in :


"Judah" wrote in message
. ..
What about pilots who have no friends or family?


such a sad git ought not to fly then

But it's the only thing that keeps me happy.

Besides, it's the reason that my wife left me in the first place!

"Lakeview Bill" wrote:

Would it perhaps be better, instead of simply abandoning a safety measure
because one forgets to properly use it, to develop the routine required to
properly use the safety measure?


Bill, sure it can be considered a safety measure but even better IMO
is flight following. If you have a problem they can know immediately
instead of hours later plus they should know where you are.

I use FF (no flight plan) plus carry a 406 MHz beacon with me.

Ron Lee

On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 14:43:58 -0600, "Gig 601XL Builder"
wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote:

This is not a good thing. If the contact number is your home number I can
just here the phone call.

MY WIFE: Hello
FSS: Yes has Mr Giacona arrived yet?
MY WIFE: No
FSS: OK Thanks

In my case it'd be:

My Wife: Hello
FSS: Has Mr Halstead arrived yet.
My Wife: No, He went flying today and probably won't be back until
tonight.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


My wife then begins to think I've crashed & burned, meanwhile I'm taxiing
into my hanger 5 minutes behind schedule.






"Jay Beckman" wrote in message
newsU8af.564$bo.388@fed1read01...
FSS has a new trick, calling the contact number on your flightplan at or
BEFORE your ETA...

Landed at Sedona this morning, called 800-WX-Brief to close VFR flight
plan, walked into the terminal building and the guy behind the FBO desk
says Prescott FSS just called looking for me. Huh!?!?! I filed for
0730MST departure with an ETE of 50 minutes. Opened the flight plan with
a wheels up time of 0755MST and landed at 0850MST...five minutes off
(probably because we stayed under the PHX Class Bravo longer than usual so
my buddy could see his house.)

So, I called Precott and the gentleman to whom I spoke said he had no idea
why they called looking for me so quick. Excused himself for a moment to
ask around, then came back on the line to explain that this is now their
policy and they will be calling pilots instead of waiting for pilots to
call them. They will be calling At or BEFORE your ETA (his words...)

Same thing on the return trip. Filed for an ETE of 1H05M and landed at
1H06M ... as I'm on the phone with ABQ (phone system shunted me there) my
call waiting beeps and it's Prescott calling me to check and see if I'm on
the ground.

So, welcome to the new Lockheed/Martin world order...

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
AZ Cloudbusters
Chandler, AZ
(Now adding 10 minutes to all ETE calculations!)

My dog is already way over his limit on minutes.

George Patterson wrote:

Chris wrote:

here in the UK the way a VFR flight plan works is that the pilot
nominates a responsible person (family member, FBO etc) to make the
call if they are overdue rather than have the ATC make assumptions.
The basis is that no news is good news.

That's the way most of us who don't file flight plans do things over
here.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your
neighbor. It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you
miss him.

That's what I was going to say. We need to remember that the flight plan is only for SAR. It works just as
well to just tell someone where you're going. "Jay and I are going to Sedona for breakfast. We should be
there in about an hour. I'll call you when I get there."

Mike

("B A R R Y" wrote)
FSS called the FBO looking for a rental Warrior that wasn't due for at
least 15 minutes from Martha's Vineyard. Right after the confused
line guy hung up the phone, the Warrior entered the pattern. The line
guy called him on the radio and told him FSS was looking for him.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...


Could a DST glitch explain it?

Let's see: 5 pm is now 4 pm.

If they (FSS) didn't "fall back" ...then you'd be an hour late every flight.
So they're not calling 15 minutes early, but rather 45 minutes after the
clock on their wall says you should be down.

Someone missed the 10-30-05 clock memo, that's all.


Montblack

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("B A R R Y" wrote)
FSS called the FBO looking for a rental Warrior that wasn't due for at
least 15 minutes from Martha's Vineyard. Right after the confused
line guy hung up the phone, the Warrior entered the pattern. The line
guy called him on the radio and told him FSS was looking for him.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...


Could a DST glitch explain it?

Let's see: 5 pm is now 4 pm.

If they (FSS) didn't "fall back" ...then you'd be an hour late every
flight. So they're not calling 15 minutes early, but rather 45 minutes
after the clock on their wall says you should be down.

Someone missed the 10-30-05 clock memo, that's all.

Whenever I filed a flight plan (probably twice in the past 6 years?), it was
in GMT/Zulu/Universal time and not in local time. That's when my dual
timezone watch comes in handy...