Twenty minutes in the queue awaiting the new and improved FSS

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
news


I waited 10 minutes for a briefer this afternoon and eventually spoke with
someone in Indiana (I'm in Atlanta). The amazing thing is that the weather
in the Southeast was great today, so 90% of pilot briefings should have
been short and simple - Great VFR, no TFR's, enjoy the ride. Logically,
with a day like today, you wouldn't think calls would need to be
transferred outside the region.

The guy I spoke with at the FSS indicated that calls from West of the
Mississippi are not supposed to be routed to FSS'es east of the
Mississippi, but every 3rd or 4th call he has been taking is from West of
the Mississippi, which really bogs things down here in the East.

If waits are going to be this long and longer, are there any other viable
options to A) Get a briefing and B) Have a record of the briefing? I can
satisfy "A" through the internet, but I'm not sure an online brief would
stand up very well in my defense if I busted a pop-up TFR or something,
especially since (presumably) there might not be a viable record of my
online brief.

I don't know if it would hold up, but a detailed and time stamped print out
of the data should suffice (or maybe not).

WheaterWorx, Jeppesen and WSI have briefing services. Even better, they
have to establish a reputation for timeliness and accuracy that the FSS's
take for granted.

Remember: Ya' gets whats ya' pays for.