got a call from BDR FSS

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

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.

I suspect they'll get this worked out soon enough. Every person I
talk to now at FSS is helpful, friendly, and knowledgable (if not,
perhaps, about the local Iowa area), and apparently interested in
doing a good job -- which was not always the case before Lock-Mart.

Anyone who has ever lived through massive management changes in an
organization knows that there are always a subset of disgruntled
employees who can do JUST enough harm to screw up everything in the
short term. (I know this because I was one of the "disgruntled", way
back in my early corporate career.) It takes a while for management
to weed them out, or wall them off, (or, if we're talking REALLY big
companies, promote them), but once done, everything works itself out.

I'm sure there will be major tweaking to come. In any change of this
scale, there always is. Once they've got the right staffing levels,
and their computer systems working together properly, I think we're
gonna like what we see -- but in the near term it'll suck for you IFR
guys.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:26:01 -0400, Kevin Clarke
wrote in :

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.

That shouldn't be. A pilot needs to know weather trends and TFRs for
local flights as well as cross country.

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.

It will be interesting to see if your conclusion is warranted when we
learn how this issue was resolved. Did you note the contact
information for the Ops Mgr from BDR, so you can follow up in the
event he doesn't get back to you?

On 8/16/2007 9:26:03 AM, Kevin Clarke wrote:

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.

Total BS, but you knew that.

--
Peter

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 06:57:41 -0700, Jay Honeck
wrote in m:

Once they've got the right staffing levels,
and their computer systems working together properly, I think we're
gonna like what we see

With the exception of briefers with local metrological knowledge as we
had before the FSS privatization, what do you think we're going to
like about the new FSS?

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:25:25 -0400, "Peter R."
wrote in :

On 8/16/2007 9:26:03 AM, Kevin Clarke wrote:

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.

Total BS, but you knew that.

Perhaps not total. The system may be programmed (currently) to
require a destination different from the departure point. Hopefully
that will be corrected.

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:48:20 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote:

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:25:25 -0400, "Peter R."
wrote in :

On 8/16/2007 9:26:03 AM, Kevin Clarke wrote:

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.

Total BS, but you knew that.

Perhaps not total. The system may be programmed (currently) to
require a destination different from the departure point. Hopefully
that will be corrected.

Cant the system fudge it with "flight from BHB to BHB via
somevornearby"?

How about an area briefiing, area beging BHB?

On 8/16/2007 10:48:17 AM, Larry Dighera wrote:

Perhaps not total. The system may be programmed (currently) to
require a destination different from the departure point. Hopefully
that will be corrected.

It is irrelevant what the system is currently programmed to do. Area
briefings are a service that is provided by FSS because there are many
examples of their necessity, as you know. Touch and goes in the pattern, air
work for students or proficiency-concerned pilots, practice IFR approaches,
etc.

If the system is only designed to provide a point-A to point-B routing
briefing, the briefer should be competent enough to work around that
limitation. To tell a pilot that s/he is unable to provide an area briefing
is doing nothing more than admitting his/her ineptitude.

--
Peter

Larry Dighera wrote:
On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:26:01 -0400, Kevin Clarke
wrote in :


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.


That shouldn't be. A pilot needs to know weather trends and TFRs for
local flights as well as cross country.

I know. I ended up giving him a fudge routing of BHB-PWM-BHB, then it
worked. I didn't have my AF/D with me at the time to give him the ICAO
for Old Town or Belfast which were the first ones I chose. The briefer
was unfamiliar with the area. I think I was speaking with Leesburg, Va.
Sigh.


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.


It will be interesting to see if your conclusion is warranted when we
learn how this issue was resolved. Did you note the contact
information for the Ops Mgr from BDR, so you can follow up in the
event he doesn't get back to you?

I did get that info. I suspect he'll get back to me. He was very helpful
about all this and more than a little embarrassed.

KC

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
s.com

Once they've got the right staffing levels,
and their computer systems working together properly, I think we're
gonna like what we see -- but in the near term it'll suck for you IFR
guys.

Actually, I think it sucks more for VFR guys. I've gotten much more
acquainted with DUAT, AOPA RTFP and other online tools to get weather and
file flight plans. I rarely need to call FSS lately.

--
John T
http://sage1solutions.com/blogs/TknoFlyer
http://sage1solutions.com/products
NEW! FlyteBalance v2.0 (W&B); FlyteLog v2.0 (Logbook)
____________________