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United States Pilots Association |
It is October, and the holes in the LM FSS program are getting bigger and the service is worsening. Just last week, several aviation
news sources reported the following information.
A group of antique aircraft, flying on a VFR flight plan, crossed through the Washington, DC, ADIZ. An F-16 intercepted them, forcing several aircraft down. Amazingly, the pilots had flown on a flight plan, had talked to LM, and had never been given the Presidential Notam in the vicinity of Camp David. The FAA declined to prosecute.
The situation with lost flight plans is so bad, a member of Congress is threatening to open an investigation into the entire system. The entire system is in chaos. If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and call FSS, you should reach Fort Worth. If their briefers are busy, you might be forwarded to Albuquerque or Arizona, or New York. My understanding of the basic problem is that the new computer systems utilized by LM are not compatible with those of the FAA. Factor in that the military computers in many cases cannot read LM, and you end up with a massive Abbott and Costello routine called Whose on First?, What's on Second?, and I Don't Dnow is on Third.
Do we really want to throw even more money from the FAA to fix this mess, or should we discard the LM contract and go back to the old system? This is what happens when the FAA outsources its primary services. I await with great trepidation the Next Gen contract when it goes on line. When Southwest lands in Frankfurt after following Next Gen guidance, maybe we will all understand.
Steve Uslan, President
United States Pilots Association