1/23 Eastern Service Region fails due to layoffs

AFSS5602 Junior Member

Today the inevitable happened. Due to a loss of over 100 flight service specialists the Eastern Service Region completely failed due to no where near adequate staffing.

As of 230pm EST the eastern service region had over 200 lost calls. The service level was below 50% which is way below passing. A lost call is counted when a pilot waits too long on hold for service and hangs up. Before the layoffs the east would generally have maybe 2-3 lost calls a day. There was also only 34 weather briefer's for the entire eastern portion of the US. Before layoffs there was 75-80.

Lockheed PR said that their new communications system would cause no difference in service. Their supposed communications system is just re-routing calls from the east to people who brief the central US and west coast and have no knowledge or training of the east coast. This plan of Lockheed's failed though, because the central and western service area were totally bogged down with their own calls. Therefore there was no place for a lot of the east coast calls to go.

This problem will likely get significantly worse as spring and summer approaches. Unfortunately, unless the FAA, pilots, AOPA etc... complain, nothing will likely change.

FSS_LULZ Newcomer

Do you think that the call volume will go down when ADDS becomes QICP certified? They have some good products, and it looks like graphical airmet is operational now.

AFSS5602 Junior Member

I have wondered the same thing. Many specialists use Adds products in our weather briefs as their products are very good and more than adequate to provide a briefing if you have a good understanding of weather. Notams can be easily obtained on the FAA naimes site.

Its difficult for me to say that many pilots can easily just get weather for themselves, because I need this job, but I cannot deny the truth either. I get tons of calls from pilots on days when its clear and a million with nothing going on. I am glad that they call, because I have a job, but I also wonder why since all I am doing is practically reading off word for word stuff that is available to them on the internet. Then there are times when the weather is awful and I have tons of people trying to go out into conditions they shouldn't be. Those are the days that the knowledge I have actually helps some people.

FSS_LULZ Newcomer

Curious that Lockheed hasn't updated the performance metrics for that week on afss.com

DCATC Rookie

but you keep forgetting its ALOT better than what it used to be.....look at service levels and dropped calls prior to 05 and compare them now.

which goes back to my point i said before, your there to work, yes brief pilots and all, not to just sit around, darn another call....you picked this profession, be stoked about it, you dont like it, then get the F out and when I call in i want a briefer who is happy and willing to help, not some unionized POS thats there just to collect a paycheck

DCATC Rookie

and they call as stated in the FAR all pilots are required to be briefed prior to flight.

DUATS used to count, havent used DUATS in who knows how long, if its either still around.

otterstrom Trusted Member of NATCA

is that you, marion blakey?

a pilot is only required to "become familiar with all available information concerning [their] flight." calling FSS for a briefing has never been a requirement. yes, DUATS still counts. also, if you sit at home and look up everything yourself, that counts. you just better be able to explain yourself if you fly through a TFR or get trapped in bad weather and cause an emergency situation. its best to put the onus on FSS, as you seem to realize.

MikeATC Retired FAA, NATCA Member Nashville TN

The flight service was more efficient prior to Lockmart taking over, we never and I mean never had the problems that we have now with Lockmart flight service. It is very apparent that DCATC "IS NOT A CONTROLLER", from his comment.

I know a lot of pilots and flown with many that absolutely refuse to call Flight Service because of the poor service and lost calls.

DCATC Rookie

ok, can you tell me what problems you see? from the outside it seems more effiecient now than before, im interested to know from the inside what your thoughts are

AFSS5602 Junior Member

The efficiency issue is a double edged sword. Lockheed Martin does not have enough weather briefers in every AOR to accommodate all of the calls that particular AOR gets.

Here is what is happening... Lets say a pilot calls for a briefing in Florida. All of the briefers are busy so he has to wait. After a very short amount of time the call tree moves the call without telling the pilot to another briefer in the Eastern service area which could be a Maine briefer or Wisconsin briefer. However often even those briefer are busy, so the call tree again moves the call over to the Central Service area to say someone who briefs North Dakota. Lets say the North Dakota briefer was available. The call drops into his/her station as "any central briefer". The pilot has never been told he is not speaking to someone in Florida. Now this briefer is only trained and certified in a couple states in the north central US. They know nothing about Florida and now they have to provide a safety related service to a pilot in an area where the don't know the airports, navaids, special use airspace, or weather for that matter. This results in a choppy and sloppy briefing that takes way longer than it would for a Florida Briefer. At the end the poor pilot is left sitting there thinking "god these people don't know crap". Is it fair to judge this North Dakota briefer a horrible specialist since he can't give a smooth Florida brief?

The pilot gets service relatively fast so indeed it is efficient. However is is completely unsafe, because the company is forcing briefers to take calls from sometimes thousands of miles outside their AOR. We are also getting lots of pilot complaints about specialists not having good knowledge of their area. They have a right to complain, because they should be getting a briefer in their area. The call tree is routing California calls as far away as New York on a regular basis. Specialists are only trained and certified for a few states which comprise their AOR.

It is a highly unrealistic expectation that every briefer know every airport, navaid, and local weather patterns in the entire United States. The vetern guys have stated that to become trained and proficient in just one region of the country takes many years of experience let alone the entire nation in a year or two like Lockheed wants.

Is it really fair for a rookie California briefer to be forced to take calls in the state of New York where he has zero training and put his job on the line. No, not even the slightest. Lockheed will not even entertain the idea of transferring calls back to their proper area in most cases, however when that California briefer messes up its all his fault and gets harsh disciplinary action.