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  #21  
Old 05-18-2007, 07:41 AM
Paul Thomas Paul Thomas is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Fort Myers, FL
Posts: 483
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Add to that there is no music when you hold. Sometimes I think I've been disconnected.
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  #22  
Old 05-20-2007, 10:07 PM
cnpeters cnpeters is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: St. Louis (Eureka), MO
Posts: 283
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When they privatized, I used them a couple times, but they were a little pissy. I don't file file plans anymore, and just call the wife before takeoff and after landing if cross-country for the search and rescue aspect (wait, maybe I better change back ). DUATS etc gives all the weather I need.
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  #23  
Old 05-20-2007, 11:04 PM
SportAvServ SportAvServ is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Ione, California
Posts: 254
Default weather briefing

I rarely us them any more, unless I'm not near a computer, if one is available I use www.weathermeister.com , custom fit to my airplanes.
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  #24  
Old 05-25-2007, 03:10 AM
Bob Axsom Bob Axsom is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 5,685
Default Dangerously Bad

I call 1-800-WXBRIEF every time I fly IFR and it seems that the once proud FSS gets worse all the time. I will wait whatever time it takes to get through but I no longer have confidence in what I am told. On a recent trip from northwest Arkansas to Charleston, SC weather was IMC and I refueled at Musscle Shoals, AL. Because of the prevailing IMC I called for a weather update. I was told that conditions were bad along my already filed IFR flight plan route with a line of thunderstorms just south of Atlanta moving northeast. So I got out my charts and planned a more northerly route over Chattanooga then I called again to change the flight plan on file. The new briefer sounded like he had very little experience and did not inspire confidence but he contradicted what I had been told by the earlier briefer and said that my new route was much worse than the the one I had on file. For some reason I believed him and continued on my original flight plan route and experienced very bland IMC. Then, this past weekend as reported in another thread (How is your flight service lately) I filed IFR from Taylor, TX to Fayetteville, Arkansas and had to pick up my clearance after takeoff (no tower and no contact could be made on the ground). The clearance could not be found by Austin Approach and I had to call FSS and re-file at low altitude under a solid overcast. The briefer was hesitant but eventually we worked it out and his last words were there were some typos in the original flight plan but the controllers should be able to find it now. Well, Houston said there was nothing in the system at first but after some discussion the controller found it. I believe that the FSS job which was once a career with long tradition and personal responsibility for providing the aviator with the best weather information for the safety of flight has been awarded to a private contractor who sees it as a business they are in until the next contract award without the same long term commitment of the old government FSS system. The difference that I have experience is one of continuing decay.

Bob Axsom
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  #25  
Old 05-27-2007, 10:27 AM
PeteJE PeteJE is offline
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: SoCal
Posts: 12
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Another vote for DUATS. I use CSC Duats almost exclusively. I use flight following for most VFR if I am going anywhere but local and don't use VFR flight plans. I will call for abbreviated if out a long time or have a long delay from duats to take off just to check for TFRs / NOTAMS. Sometimes I get right through and sometimes not
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  #26  
Old 05-27-2007, 05:08 PM
nucleus nucleus is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bozeman, Montana
Posts: 858
Angry wx brief report

I have had noticably longer waits but only 5-10 minutes. I think where it really is degraded is the lack of local knowledge. Before my briefer could answer specific questions about specific mountain passes, etc. Now I am talking to someone in Dallas, Tennessee, anywhere really and they don't know the airports or mountains in Montana. A lot of times a tight satelite pic or radar or pilot reports make all the difference flying around here, and I haven't found exactly what I need online either, I will try weathermeister. I gave up on duats a long time ago. I can't wait for weather in the cockpit.

Hans Conser
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  #27  
Old 05-27-2007, 06:10 PM
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zilik zilik is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Pine Junction, CO
Posts: 655
Default You Don't remember?

Maybe you don't remember the problems on our turks trip. It took us 47 minutes of hold to get a human to file out outbound ICAO flight plans the night before we left Homestead. I called the Denver FSS to file and the guy said they were not trained on ICAO and I needed to call Miami. On the return trip our flight plans did not get canceled and they informed us they had started the search and rescue when on the plan from the turks to the bahamas. MIA FSS dropped the ball on the cancle. Rosie had no flight plan filed when entering the ADIZ and they stuck him on Jim's (enroute) when the stuff hit the fan. Jim and I both filed for all the planes.

Yes, FSS is muffed up big time.

Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryan Wood
We are a large number of active pilots from just about everywhere. Please chime in on this and share recent experiences that you've had with the FSS's. How are they doin'? I keep reading that there are problems, but have only had reasonably good service myself. I'm finding that the horror stories are simply not matching up with the briefings that I'm getting. How about your experiences?

Best,
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  #28  
Old 05-28-2007, 07:29 PM
Bryan Wood's Avatar
Bryan Wood Bryan Wood is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 848
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by zilik
Maybe you don't remember the problems on our turks trip. It took us 47 minutes of hold to get a human to file out outbound ICAO flight plans the night before we left Homestead. I called the Denver FSS to file and the guy said they were not trained on ICAO and I needed to call Miami. On the return trip our flight plans did not get canceled and they informed us they had started the search and rescue when on the plan from the turks to the bahamas. MIA FSS dropped the ball on the cancle. Rosie had no flight plan filed when entering the ADIZ and they stuck him on Jim's (enroute) when the stuff hit the fan. Jim and I both filed for all the planes.

Yes, FSS is muffed up big time.

Gary
Gary,

Yeah I remember that stuff, but thought that it might have been more to do with the international briefers and services. Everything getting to Florida from California went smooth for us with the exception of a FSS in Texas talking down to me for giving them a wheels up time in local time. Out here I've never used zulu and have never been called to the carpet on it. This guy wouldn't open my flight plan until he belittled me a bit. Anyway it was pretty harmless.

When I started this thread it was originally pretty nasty, but before I hit send I realized that everything I had written was second hand. In the two previous days a friend had called me to go online and get him information while he sat in his plane on the ramp and waited. He simply couldn't get thru to a briefer and needed to know if there were TFR's or adverse conditions since he had left home. On the third day he had called to tell me about a briefing that contradicted the local news weather and he sided with the briefer in Prescott and decided to fly. This was for a return flight to San Jose from Fresno around 10p.m. Fog was the conflict and the in flight briefer said there were no worries while the local news had said it would roll in before dark. Well, the local news was right and he had a heck of a time getting home. Since I hadn't personally experienced long waits or bad service I re-wrote the thread to see what others are experiencing.

Now this weekend I got to experience what others are enjoying. For a flight from San Jose, CA to Clear Lake, CA I got a briefer that sounded like I was talking to another planet. The connection was bad, the volume would get very loud and then decrease to where I could barely hear, the briefer had a very strong accent and sounded like I was talking to somebody in Georgia. This would be great if I were flying near Georgia, but I wasn't. The voice of a briefer sitting next to him sounded as if he was inside the phone of the person I was talking to. I asked about this and he said that they are now sitting close together with no partitions and that a lot of pilots had complained about the interference. Somewhere around this point he told me that "The System" didn't recognize my destination airport of 1O2 and asked for something close by that he could use. With Ukiah plugged into his system he started reading me information about the taxiways and lights at Ukiah. When I told him that I didn't need that information because I was going to 1O2 he seemed confused. At this point he asked if there was anything else that I would like and since he hadn't given anything useful yet I asked for winds aloft and TFR's. He stated that this system didn't have winds and he needed to change systems. ??? After a minute or so of him groaning he told me that he couldn't get in to see winds aloft. Then he said there is a TFR for the Redding area, but nothing in Northern California. For those of you unfamiliar like the briefer, Redding is in Northern California. I took the radial and distance from the VOR and we hung up. I had waited 18 minutes on hold for this conversation. I know because I started the stop watch function on my watch when I hit dial. Overall the service was pretty bad!

So here's my conclusion. Weathermeister for a brief and then a nice 396 or 496 Garmin to take care of me enroute for weather and TFR's. The way you and Jimmy Baker lead the way around harms way on the Turks trip with your Garmin's have me sold. It looks like one of these little gismos will be much more valuable than wx-brief.

Blue Skies,
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Beech S35, and daydreams of a Super 8 or a Rocket starting to take over my brain.
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  #29  
Old 05-28-2007, 07:47 PM
Bob Axsom Bob Axsom is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 5,685
Default For the rest of us that have to use WX-brief

For the rest of us that have to use WX-brief I hope this finds its way into the AOPA bucket that is collecting info on this service. Of course they have bigger fish to fry and this will not be handled by the A Team with feeling I pretty sure.

Bob Axsom
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  #30  
Old 06-07-2007, 12:24 AM
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dan dan is offline
 
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Location: ...
Posts: 2,049
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http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#195366
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