Flight Planning

An update on the FSS transition
What AOPA is doing to make sure it meets your needs

• Our ongoing efforts
• Background on FSS modernization
• How the system failed
• Help for pilots

In late April, the flight service system (FSS), being run by Lockheed Martin under contract with the FAA, began experiencing serious problems. An aggressive consolidation schedule for the new FS21 (twenty-first century) system, computer glitches, and a busy flying season overwhelmed the new system.

As the watchdog for the pilot community, AOPA's staff reacted quickly, working directly with the FAA and Lockheed Martin to resolve safety of flight and service issues.

AOPA continues to remain in daily, if not hourly, contact with FAA and Lockheed Martin officials to make sure they understand the severity of the FSS problems and, most importantly, fix them.

This page is intended to provide important updates and allow you to track our actions in getting flight service modernization back on track. This page also provides information on resources available to you, should you experience problems with the new FS21 system.

Our ongoing efforts

September 14. If you have downloaded Lockheed Martin's "Pilot Quick Tips" card to help you navigate through the AFSS "call tree," whip out your editing pencil.

The numbers have changed.

AOPA discovered the glitch yesterday and notified Lockheed Martin. The voice prompt still works, and pressing "1" will still get you directly to a briefer. But now you have to press "3" to get TIBS, "4" will some day be used to record a Fast File, and "5" is for special announcements.

Lockheed Martin technicians made some software changes to make it easier for airport managers to file notam information and make sure it was distributed correctly through the system. But apparently they didn't notice that they had also changed the numerical prompt numbers pilots had started using to get directly to the information they needed.

Lockheed Martin says it will update the new prompt codes on its Web site as soon as possible. And be aware that the incorrect codes may still be on other Web sites and in other publications.

August 31. The FSS telephone system experienced a brief outage this morning. The primary Automated Call Distribution system failed, and the backup system did not kick in immediately. Pilots couldn't get through to briefers for about 15 minutes. Lockheed Martin is investigating the problem.

With the upcoming holiday weekend, we'd like to remind you of a few tips about using the FS21 flight service system.

If you just want to open or close a flight plan, simply select (or say) "any." That will route you to the first available specialist anywhere in the system.

If you need an IFR clearance from an airport without radio communication with ATC or flight service, call 888/766-8267.

Lockheed Martin has published a quick reference card with more tips and codes on how to get the information you need as quickly as possible. You can download it here.

Finally, if you experience any problems using the flight service system, call 888/358-7782 (888/FLT-SRVC). Your recorded comments are listened to by the FAA and Lockheed Martin and reported to AOPA. Your comments are invaluable in ensuring that the service continues to improve.

August 14, 11:30 a.m. EDT. Some IFR flight plans might have been lost or delayed today. The FAA’s central data switch in Atlanta – the National Airspace Data Interchange Network (NADIN) – has had intermittent failures this morning. The NADIN transfers flight plans to the host computers in the air route traffic control centers, and if the system is completely down, neither Lockheed Martin AFSS briefers nor DUAT/DUATS systems can input IFR flight plans into FAA’s air traffic control computers.

We haven’t had reports yet from members about problems with IFR flight plans. And from what FAA, Lockheed Martin, and DUAT/DUATS tell us, the problem may be just that the NADIN module that sends the return confirmation that the IFR flight plan has been received is working slowly.

We’ll update the blog as we learn more from the FAA.

August 9, 11:30 a.m. EDT. Lockheed Martin now reports that the system is back up and operating at 90 percent of capacity. Only Kankakee is still down but should be online within the hour. Pilots can once again file flight plans through 800/WX-BRIEF. You can pick up IFR clearances and close IFR flight plans by calling the national number (say "any" to bypass the prompts) or the dedicated clearance delivery number, 888/766-8267.

August 9, 10:30 a.m. EDT. Members are telling us that when they can get through to an FS21 briefer, they get weather, but the briefer is unable to file a flight plan. They are also reporting that they cannot pick up their IFR clearances by telephone from AFSS. We have not yet confirmed this with LM. We suggest you file your flight plan through DUAT/DUATS.

August 9, 10 a.m. EDT. Lockheed Martin confirms that a software update at midnight took down the entire system. The system has now been restored at all of the hubs and all but four of the satellite stations. However, the system is running at about 65 percent of capacity, so pilots are experiencing long hold times and some dropped calls.

LM technicians say it will take at least an hour to correct all of the remaining problems.

August 9, 9 a.m. EDT. We're getting a significant number of calls from AOPA members reporting that they can't get through to flight service. Some members have reported waiting on hold for up to 20 minutes and then the call disconnects.

Lockheed Martin tells us they are aware of the problem and are working to quickly resolve the issues. They think the problem may be related to a software update installed last night.

We'll update this blog with more details as they become available.

August 1. If you need to file an international flight plan out of the Miami area, there's a new telephone number you should call — 800/432-4716. That number will connect you with a flight service specialist certified on operations in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean.

Pilots had complained to AOPA that they could no longer get a Miami briefer on the local number they were used to calling. And sometimes calling the nationwide 800/WX-BRIEF number connected them to a briefer who knew nothing about how to file an international flight plan.

We contacted Lockheed Martin yesterday, and they quickly implemented a fix to the problem.

Here's the "back story." Lockheed Martin has closed the Miami International Flight Service Station for refurbishment and upgrading to the FS21 system. Miami briefers have been temporarily relocated to Ashburn, Virginia, for FS21 training.

The FAA was supposed to transfer the local telephone number for the Miami AIFSS to Lockheed Martin. It didn't. Pilots who were used to calling that number for briefings for the Florida Keys and the Caribbean suddenly couldn't get the help they needed. Compounding the problem, calls to 800/WX-BRIEF weren't always being switched to a briefer who knew the area.

That's now fixed. If you call 800/432-4716 for an international briefing, you will be connected to a Miami briefer — although he or she may actually be in Virginia at the moment.

Here's another tip. If you do call the local number and press #* to bypass the Miami recording, you'll be dumped into hold with no chance of getting to a briefer. That line still belongs to the FAA.

So call 800/432-4716 for an international briefing out of the Miami area, or 800/WX BRIEF for a domestic briefing.

And kudos to Lockheed Martin. When the FAA didn't respond to transfer the local number, LM quickly reprogrammed their telephone system to ensure pilots could get through to the right briefer.

We've been justifiably harsh on LM in this blog, but we'll also give credit when credit is due. When a specific problem such as this is identified, Lockheed Martin responds quickly with a temporary or permanent fix.

So, if you experience a problem with the FSS system, immediately call the FSS comment line — 888/FLT-SRVC (888/358-7782). AOPA, the FAA, and Lockheed Martin are listening.

July 23. The "flight service comment line" is hot, time for you to start sounding off. If you have any problem with your flight service briefing, call 888/FLT-SRVC (888/358-7782) and get it all down on tape.

AOPA President Phil Boyer had suggested such a hotline to Lockheed Martin officials earlier this month.

"It was clear to me that this type of immediate feedback would be the only way to track down and fix all of the problems and errors," said Boyer. "Lockheed Martin's performance metrics were doing a much better job in tracking system-wide averages, but individual pilot complaints to AOPA showed us that the metrics weren't telling the full story about the quality of the briefings."

This 'Phase II' of our FSS improvement effort should give Lockheed Martin and the FAA the data needed to fix all the remaining problems.

"The online complaint form was a good start, but it didn't do enough," said Boyer. "By the time a pilot could get to a computer to log a problem, critical details might have been forgotten. And for some, it just wasn't worth the effort to report the problem after concluding a hard flight."

With the new telephone hotline, a pilot can make a report immediately. "Plus, I thought a phone call would be easier," said Boyer. "Just make a recording while the details are still fresh."

Lockheed Martin readily agreed to the toll-free complaint line, and even offered to start it immediately utilizing its equipment. However, as part of the stepped up government oversight of this critical service, the FAA agreed to operate and pay for the service.

FAA's Flight Service Operations and Safety group will collect and catalog all comments recorded on the hotline and then forward them to Lockheed Martin for action. LM will respond to the complaining pilot within 15 days.

AOPA will also receive a copy of every complaint, so the association can continue its role as an independent watchdog over the quality of FSS services and as an advocate for all pilots.

The hotline can handle 80 simultaneous phone calls, so the likelihood of hitting a busy signal is small. "But if you do get a busy signal, please call back," said Boyer. "It's only by finding and fixing every hitch and hiccup that will get us to an FSS system with the performance promised."

July 19. The flight service station system seems to be running better nowadays. Here at AOPA we're getting far fewer complaints than we were a few months ago. Lost flight plans are now reported only rarely, although we still get complaints about hold times well in excess of what Lockheed Martin is reporting as their "average" wait time.

We even get reports of positive experiences with LM briefers. "Since I have filed complaints about FSS, I feel it is important to give praise as well," e-mailed one AOPA member. "With two calls yesterday and one today to FSS, I think my home FSS (Nashville) may be getting back to normal. Call answered promptly, briefer located in Nashville, briefer had local knowledge and gave a concise brief specific to what I asked for. Thumbs up this time!"

It's not all roses, though. The Senate Appropriations Committee just issued a report in which it notes, in part, "The committee is disappointed to hear reports of poor service levels in those flight service stations that were transitioned to a private vendor and consolidated. The most significant problems have included system outages, unanswered and dropped phone calls, excessive hold times, and poor quality briefings.

"Furthermore, many pilots complain that employees at the service stations are unable to provide weather information, file a flight plan, or supply critical notices to airmen. These problems threaten the safety of the general aviation community.

"Although these services have been contracted out to a private vendor, the committee holds the FAA accountable to its promise of improved service. The committee expects the FAA to take responsibility for this program and to resolve these issues quickly," said the senators who "write the check" for the FAA.

We also expect no less.

July 10. Have we turned a corner? According to Lockheed Martin, we have.

Monday we met with LM officials responsible for the FSS system, and they told us that 80 percent of their briefers have now been trained on the new FS21 information system. Eleven of 16 satellite stations have been refurbished and upgraded to the FS21 system, and the remainder of the stations should be up and running with the new system by mid-August.

In terms of service, LM's statistics show that the company more consistently achieving its contractual obligations. Every day last week, for example, they say they met the goal of answering 80 percent of all phone calls within 20 seconds.

And truth be told, we're getting fewer complaints about long hold times and dropped calls.

But we have yet to see a significant uptick in members' assessment of the quality of the briefing — professionalism, equipment knowledge, and local area knowledge. We shared our June survey with LM officials.

We saw no change in your ratings of briefer professionalism from May to June. In both surveys, 60 percent of you rated professionalism as "good" or "very good."

For briefers' knowledge of their equipment, a small improvement — 40 percent rating that as "good" or "very good."

Not much change in your ranking of briefers' knowledge of local geography and weather — only 35 percent gave it "good" or "very good" ratings to that area.

And those results are not something that Lockheed Martin can really argue with. Its contract requires them to do a customer satisfaction survey, but they haven't been able to do their own survey yet. It's not their fault. Federal regulations require that such official surveys be approved first by the Department of Transportation and the Office of Management and Budget. The feds haven't acted yet.

But we continue to act. And honestly, so does Lockheed Martin. While the dialogue between us is difficult at times, we're still talking. And we're still working toward fixing all of the problems. We think LM truly wants to deliver everything promised, and the company is working hard toward that goal. After all, it is in its financial interest to make it all right.

July 5. You look at Lockheed Martin's performance metrics, and you'd think things are a whole lot better. They say, for example, that the average wait time for a briefer on July 4 was only nine seconds.

But LM's carefully crafted statistical presentation doesn't seem to match the real world experiences of pilots using the system.

AOPA surveyed pilots in May and again in June to see if things are getting better. The short answer: not much improvement, but at least the downward spiral in service seems to have been arrested.

Only 24 percent of pilots thought that their overall service from LM's flight service system had improved in the last 30 days. And pilots continue to give poor marks for briefer local and meteorological knowledge, with almost half rating it "poor" or "very poor." The change in that rating from May to June is statically insignificant.

There was a slight increase — 9 percent — in the percentage of pilots who said their phone calls were usually or always answered within one minute. Even so, only 27 percent of pilots reported that level of service. And remember, the contract calls for 85 percent of the calls to be answered within 20 seconds.

So when LM tells us that the average queue time was nine seconds on July 4, does that mean anything? Frankly, not much. It's an average over 24 hours. There aren't too many calls to flight service at 3 a.m., and that can pull down the average considerably.

More meaningful would be to know the average queue times within each hour of the day, and the abandon rates (callers who hang up because they won't wait any longer), and the number of dropped calls. Even better, that same data station by station. It means nothing to you if the average queue time for the entire system is less than a minute if your call gets routed to a facility where the wait is much longer.

We're going to be meeting with Lockheed Martin next week. You can bet that we'll be telling them that your real-world experience doesn't match their rosy statistics.

July 2. If you're frustrated with the problems with the flight service station system, imagine the pain of the people who work the FS21 computers every single day.

In the past two weeks, different FSS specialists have called us expressing frustrations and alarm at what they describe as "serious problems" with FS21. The employees, who want to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their jobs, have told AOPA that as bad as it has been for pilots, the situation on the other end of the phone has deteriorated as well. While they did not want to provide specifics — again out of fear of retribution — they want AOPA and the FAA to dig deeper into the FS21 issue, claiming there are systemic problems that can't be remedied easily.

Many of you have told us that this is the impression you get talking to the briefers; they're trying to get you good information but sometimes have to fight their system to do it. "After a great quick start, the briefer was wading through long screens of notams not related to my cross-country flight," a member told us recently. "Sometimes there would be 30- to 45-second silences as he scrolled through screen after screen of notams looking for ones useful to me. The briefer was nice and polite, but he was doing his best to remain absolutely professional in a difficult setting."

June 29. We told you before that we would make sure that Congress was well aware of the start-up problems with the Lockheed Martin-managed flight service system. AOPA President Phil Boyer and other AOPA staff have had numerous conversations with key members of Congress and their staffs.

The evidence of those discussions came out yesterday in the House FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007 (H.R.2881).

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (which wrote the bill and has jurisdiction over the FAA) said, "Users of the FAA's flight service station contract services have reported serious and systemic safety-related and operational performance problems."

To address that, the committee created Section 217 of the bill that would require the FAA to "develop and implement a monitoring system for flight service specialist staffing and training." The monitoring program should also be checking for "system outages, excessive hold times, dropped calls, poor quality briefings, and any other safety or customer service issues under a contract for flight service station services."

The bill would also require the FAA to put a plan into place to provide for uninterrupted flight service station services in the event that the contractor doesn't meet all the terms of the contract or defaults for any reason.

Aviation subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), who has taken a very personal interest in the issue, told Boyer last night that they need to talk further about flight service station problems.

June 21. If you've had your call dropped while you're on hold waiting for a briefer, you're not alone. We still get occasional reports from members on this problem, and the FAA's quality assurance folks have had it happen to them, too.

We talked to Lockheed Martin about it this week, and they are very aware of the problem. They think there is a glitch in the call switching system, and they are working with AT&T to track it down. (AT&T actually supplies the equipment and network that is supposed to route your call to the appropriate FS21 facility and the next available briefer.)

Lockheed Martin says calls are dropped infrequently, and based on what you are reporting to us, we would think that is the case. But they still need to fix the problem. And you can see a flight service station progress report from Lockheed Martin's AFSS program manager on the company's Web site.

June 18. We're still getting reports of lost flight plans. "Filed flight plans for LSE-EAU and back, and was advised that they were both on file," one member reported from a flight this weekend. "Upon departure was told they were not on file."

Lockheed Martin tells us today that another software update tonight should fix one of the dropped flight plan problems. It seems that some IFR flight plans were defaulting back to VFR, which means they never got into the air traffic control system. This software patch is supposed to fix that.

Another patch is supposed to fix a notam problem. We're told that if a specialist made an error in inputting the notam codes, the system would reject it but not notify the specialist.

Lockheed Martin's performance metrics show that the average on-hold time over this weekend was 1:09 on Saturday and 41 seconds on Sunday. And the company tells us that "60 percent of the calls are answered within 20 seconds." But a member flying in Wisconsin on Saturday says he was unable to get through at all on the telephone. So much for averages.

Finally, this: "I called the national clearance number and the specialist who answered the phone told me to call the national clearance number."

(By the way, the national clearance number is 888/766-8267. You can also use that number to close your IFR plan.)

June 15. We've said it before, and we'll say it again; averages don't tell you the story. While Lockheed Martin is reporting average hold times of around 40 seconds this week, here's what we're hearing from some of our members:

"I was on hold initially for 40 minutes, and then the call dropped. Tried again and was on hold for 20 minutes. Did not file IFR and flew flight VFR."

"Twenty-minute delay for a briefer. Briefing was acceptable. Briefer said to contact AOPA or congressman to report delay."

And this is the first time we heard this, but we've received multiple reports of this happening this week: The briefer interrupts a telephone briefing to handle a radio call.

"On hold for 25 minutes, got the briefer, but then on hold again for seven minutes to answer radio. Then another 10-minute hold. On the phone 38 minutes just to file a flight plan."

One briefer told a member that radio calls get priority.

June 13. Earlier this week an FS21 computer subsystem in the Ashburn (Leesburg, Va.) hub failed briefly, causing a system backlog for flight plans in the Washington, D.C., area. As soon as we learned from one of our members that the system was losing flight plans for the Washington Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ), we called both Lockheed Martin and the FAA. And they got back to us quickly to let us know they had fixed the problem, they were working through the backlog, and they were looking for the cause.

This is just an example of how AOPA is in contact with Lockheed Martin and the FAA every single day to make sure we know that everything is being done to fix the flight service station problems.

And if the number of complaints that we get is any measure, things do seem to be improving somewhat. Lockheed Martin says that the average hold time has dropped below 40 seconds so far this week. But if you experience something different, please let us know.

And speaking of letting people know, AOPA President Phil Boyer recently informed Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) on the system problems. Mica is the former chairman of the aviation subcommittee and currently the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mica told us in a letter that he contacted Lockheed Martin (it always gets a contractor's attention when a member of Congress, who writes the checks, has concerns). The company told him that they are "working closely with AOPA to address any and all issues or complaints." He told us that he will "continue to closely monitor this situation and will share any updates I receive with your organization."

June 11. Some of you may have read that Lockheed Martin was "fined" $3 million last quarter because of its performance running the flight service station system. We thought we'd take a moment to explain that a little more, and to tell you again why it is so important that you register your complaints and compliments.

Technically, it was not a fine; it was an incentive payment that Lockheed Martin failed to earn. The company can receive up to $3 million every three months if it meets or exceeds some 20 performance requirements. Obviously, it didn't.

In order to get that money, Lockheed Martin needs, for example, to answer more than 80 percent of the phone calls within 20 seconds and 80 percent of the radio calls within 5 seconds. Less than 5 percent of calls in a day can get a busy signal. The vast majority of flight plans must be entered into the system without error. They can't exceed a specified number of customer complaints. They must score well on customer satisfaction surveys.

So you see now why it's so important to report your real-world experiences with the FSS. It not only serves as a cross-check on the performance metrics that the company is reporting to the FAA, it also means money in Lockheed Martin's pocket. Millions of extra dollars are a powerful motivator for getting things right.

June 8. Sometimes it's not Lockheed Martin's fault. If you had problems with your flight plan today, it may have been due to the failure of an FAA system. The FAA's central data switch in Atlanta — the National Airspace Data Interchange Network (NADIN) — failed, and all operations switched over to the Salt Lake City facility. (The NADIN transfers flight plans from flight service stations to the host computers in the air route traffic control centers or, if the flight is VFR, to the appropriate flight service station for the flight's destination. IFR clearance information is also routed through the NADIN.)

Salt Lake City became overloaded and stopped accepting new flight plans for a while. The system was restored by afternoon but processing slower than normal as it worked on catching up on the backlog of flight plans.

But whatever the cause, if you have problems, report them to both AOPA and Lockheed Martin. How much the FAA pays LM is determined, in part, by the quality of service and pilot complaints. Your reports make a difference.

Lockheed Martin has given us some "quick steps" to help you navigate through their call tree faster. It's a series of codes that will bypass their voice recognition system. You can download the codes here.

June 7. Yesterday we took your problems with the flight service station system straight to the Department of Transportation's top watchdogs — Inspector General Calvin Scovel and his staff.

"For nearly two hours, we laid it all out for them," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Long hold times, dropped calls, lost flight plans, inexperienced briefers, failure to supply critical information such as TFRs. We'll even give them a copy of every complaint that members have sent us."

We also gave them the results of the survey we told you about on June 4.

And we also asked the IG to take a close look at Lockheed Martin's performance metrics. To their credit, LM is posting a daily report detailing system performance.

"But on a day when Lockheed Martin reported that the longest hold time for the entire system was four minutes, we had a member report a 20-minute hold," said Boyer. "And their system averages seem to be much better than what our members say are their real-time experiences. We encouraged the IG to resolve that apparent discrepancy."

June 6. Lockheed Martin managers got an earful from pilots last Saturday at the AOPA Fly-In. To their credit, the managers were here, they faced the music, and, by all reports, were gracious and tried to answer all pilots' concerns. With our location just outside of the Washington, D.C., ADIZ (air defense identification zone), many pilots attending the Fly-In had had problems with getting through to the Ashburn (formerly Leesburg) hub to file ADIZ and FRZ (flight restricted zone) flight plans that are peculiar to this area.

Lockheed Martin listened to those problems. This week, the company added extra briefers to handle the special ADIZ phone line that was implemented a few weeks ago. And they've trained and certified briefers in Raleigh, N.C., on the ADIZ, so that they can handle any call overflow. So far, our reports are that wait time for an ADIZ briefing has dropped to about 20 seconds.

Starting this week, five extra briefers will be added to the Ashburn hub every Friday to better handle the greater call volumes experienced at week's end.

Meanwhile, the FAA tells us it has updated the software in 12 of its 20 ARTCC host computers and has a "work-around" in place for the others while they await their updates. That is supposed to resolve some of the lost flight plan problem. (The FAA's computers were rejecting plans forwarded by "out of area" Lockheed Martin computers.) We await reports from our members on the success of this fix.

This response is important because Boyer spent a great deal of time with Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, at an Iowa aviation event on Monday, explaining to him all of the problems being experienced by pilots. The chairman is very concerned and is considering how he can be helpful.

June 4. AOPA President Phil Boyer is scheduled to have dinner tonight with Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), the chairman of the House aviation subcommittee. As you may recall, Rep. Costello's committee oversees the FAA, and he has already sent a letter to FAA Administrator Blakey demanding to know what was being done to fix the FSS problems. And you can be sure that Phil and Rep. Costello will be talking about what Congress can do to help pilots by having the FAA and Lockheed Martin improve FSS service.

We just completed another survey of AOPA members on flight service. We're still analyzing all of the numbers, but here's the top line: Two-thirds of you said that FSS service has gotten worse in the last 30 days, and almost half of you said you were "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with the briefing you received, and nearly two-thirds of you said your calls were "never" or "seldom" answered within one minute. You did say that briefer professionalism and courtesy was "good" or "very good," but nearly one-half of you said that their local geographical and meteorological knowledge was "poor" or "very poor."

On Sunday, the FAA was scheduled to update software on their host computer that is supposed to fix some of the lost flight plan problems.

We don't know when that fix became operational on Sunday, but one member reported to us that on Sunday, he was flying from New York to Illinois, "dodging TRW all up and down the Ohio Valley. After landing for fuel at AAA (Lincoln, Ill.), I filed by phone (1900Z) for 1C5 (Bolingbrook, Ill.). The briefer was in Virginia. The flight plan was not found by any controlling agency — Peoria Approach, Champaign Approach, Springfield Approach. All the RCOs for FSS were unanswered. 122.6 (Peoria), the BMI RCO 122.1T, CMI and 122.6. I had to beg a Peoria Approach controller to put something in the system while he was juggling 10 aircraft. He did."

June 2. You knew it had to come up. One AOPA member asked Phil Boyer during his hangar session today at the AOPA Fly-In, "Are you getting any assurances that this Lockheed Martin flight service fiasco is getting under control?"

"I'm getting assurances. I want to believe them," Boyer replied, "I'll be assured when I open my e-mail and I don't have complaints."

He did say that the complaints coming to him have diminished, and he confirmed with AOPA staff that things do seem to be running better than they were a few weeks ago, but "I'm not telling you the problem has been solved."

"I'm not going to rest," Boyer said. "If this is not solved in the next 30 days, trust me, we will be going to Congress to let them know what kind of a mess we're in here."

He said that AOPA had anticipated some problems would occur during the transition. "It's like replacing rusty old water pipes. You have to dig up the street, there will be a few hours when you don't have water, and the water will run rusty red for a little while.

"But never in my wildest dreams did I guess the transition would be this botched up."

Nevertheless, Boyer said that contracting out the operation of the flight service stations was "the right thing to do to save money; it was the right thing for a service like this."

He said that the equipment was now state of the art, that the flight service briefers were getting the proper training, "but it isn't all firing on every cylinder right now."

June 1. During yesterday's Board of Performance and Cost Review, both the FAA and Lockheed Martin detailed the corrective actions being taken to fix the problems pilots are encountering.

A series of software and hardware repairs seem to have worked; the systems haven't crashed in three weeks since their implementation.

The average "on-hold" time has dropped from a high of 3 minutes and 30 seconds during the week of May 6 to one minute and 49 seconds last week. That's pretty close to the averages back in April when Lockheed Martin first took over the system.

But averages don't tell you about the extremes. Lockheed Martin said the longest "on-hold" time on Tuesday of this week was 4 minutes, 16 seconds. But an AOPA member on Wednesday told us he was on hold 17 minutes, 15 seconds before he gave up and went to DUAT. But that complaint will be hard to track.

Which brings up an important point; FAA and Lockheed Martin will track down every complaint, but they need to know N number, date and time of the call, and the FS21 hub or flight service station you were connected to (if you know). If you report your complaint to AOPA, we need the same info as well so we can ask them to track the problem.

Lockheed Martin has implemented a number of fixes for the lost flight plan problem as well. Part of the problem was that the FAA's air route traffic control center computers weren't accepting flight plans from "out of area" Lockheed Martin hubs. On Sunday, the FAA plans to install a software change that will make sure that each ARTCC computer will accept a flight plan from any AFSS.

May 31. Congress is now concerned about the problems with the FSS system. Congressman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, recently sent a letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, demanding to know "what the FAA is doing to fix these serious flight service problems both now and long term." That's a big deal considering the power Costello wields over the FAA. Because he and other members of his committee will be writing the House version of the FAA reauthorization bill, he's the one who tells the FAA what to do and how much it can spend. If you're a federal agency, you sure don't want to tick off the folks who, in essence, write the check.

Also today our AOPA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Melissa Rudinger attended a Board of Cost and Performance Review meeting on the FSS contract. Rudinger has been working air traffic and flight service station issues for years, and she knows the technology, the players, and the problems inside out.

This meeting is actually a pretty big deal. The law requires these boards every time a government service is contracted out under the A-76 process. What's unusual is that on this board, the "customer" — that's us — has a seat. Administrator Blakey announced at last year's AOPA Expo that AOPA would be appointed to this board. As far as we know, most of the other cost and performance review boards only include the government and the contractor.

So that means that we, the customers, have some input into the way this contract for FSS is run. So it's good to be on the inside. It's also bad, because it means that we — AOPA — sometimes get information that we'd really like to tell you, the members, but we can't, because we've agreed not to discuss certain proprietary information. Those of you in business understand.

May 30. We'd heard "through the grapevine" that FAA headquarters thought that the FS21 system was now back to working fine. Last weekend's problems (the system was "overloaded" on Friday with some 7,000 calls) certainly proved that wasn't the case, but just to make sure that agency officials knew the problems continue, Phil Boyer sent FAA Administrator Marion Blakey an e-mail from an AOPA member in California.

On Monday, this member had been bounced all around the system trying to get off the ground. After a five-minute hold, he reported that he received a good briefing, albeit from someone in Texas who wasn't familiar with the local area.

"Ok — so far so good," he writes. "Crank-up the plane, do my run-up, and call FSS for my clearance while in the run-up area. Finally, they connect me to someone in Washington. Told her I had a flight plan on file from O48 to LVK and needed to pick up my clearance on the ground. She said, 'Where are you?' I said Northern California and she said she couldn't help me.

"I explained the Flight Plan was in the system, couldn't she deal with it? Nope. Need to call again and get a briefer that can handle California, and no, she can't transfer my call to another FSS. Hang up, try again, five minute wait and another ad, and get Texas again.

"He at least can help me. To make a long story short, it took 35 minutes from that point to get my clearance because their phone lines that were supposed to connect them to Oakland Center connect them to LA Center! The briefer was very, very nice — he tried to have LA Center connect him to Oakland — nope, can't happen. He went to their list of private phone numbers and called direct — no answers!!!

"Anyhow, total time from the time I called to file to time I rotated was just about an hour (with about 10 minutes of it for taxi and run-up). If this is progress, I am impressed...but not favorably."

"It's e-mails like this that really get us concerned," Boyer told Blakey, "specifically those that involve a plane powered up and unable to properly access the system."

Well, the administrator answered overnight from China! She promised again that the FAA would follow up on every specific report of poor service they receive. And that they have a few more ideas on ways to improve things that they'll share with AOPA soon.

Meanwhile, we also got a note from a pilot local to the Washington, D.C., area who's previously reported repeated problems connecting with AFSS. But he says that on Thursday, he had three IFR flights and had no problems getting through to flight service and none of his flight plans were lost — this time.

May 29. AOPA staff reports the problem to Lockheed and FAA officials regarding missing flight plans.

May 28. AOPA members report that flight plans filed with FS21 are not in the air traffic control system when they try and activate them.

May 26. Despite Lockheed Martin's pledge to increase staffing, heavy call volume causes long delays as pilots try to reach FSS for trips during the long holiday weekend. Lockheed Martin says it has taken further action to handle the holiday call volume.

May 25. Leading into the Memorial Day holiday, AOPA contacts Lockheed Martin officials to get any last-minute changes or updates on service difficulties. Lockheed officials confirm that they have beefed up staffing to address increased demand over this time period.

May 24. AOPA shares pilots' problems with Lockheed Martin officials for their daily call on FS21 services.

May 22. AOPA continues receiving daily updates from Lockheed Martin's management team on actions being taken to fix the FS21 computer system and address pilot complaints. Lockheed reports that it continues to implement software upgrades and "fixes" on a weekly basis. For example, Lockheed implemented software to fix a problem with FS21 "dropping" flight plans. Lockheed also has a dedicated telephone number for airport managers to file notams (877/4US-NTMS). A status report on FS21 performance is shared with the FAA administrator's chief of staff.

May 21. AOPA staff pilots review more than 100 e-mail complaints on FSS service sent over the weekend. These complaints are prioritized, logged, and sent to the FAA and Lockheed Martin for follow-up action.

May 19. A pilot in Texas reports to AOPA that he is unable to get through to FSS on Saturday and decides to fly without a briefing. He does not receive an important notam about the presidential temporary flight restriction (TFR) over Crawford Ranch, which results in a violation. Another pilot reports that the Fort Worth, Texas, briefer gave incorrect information that the TFR was not active, resulting in another violation. At AOPA's request, Lockheed and the FAA investigate these complaints while AOPA tracks the response.

May 18. In a meeting with AOPA senior leadership, high-ranking Lockheed Martin officials outline the steps they are taking to improve service:

• Speeding work to reopen the 16 so-called legacy FSS locations that will connect to the three regional hubs.
• Slowing the consolidation and closing of other sites to give more time to fix computer glitches and train staff.
• Retaining temporary staff (primarily retirees) to fill in at understaffed areas.
• Developing a staffing plan to handle busy holidays.
• Enhancing training related to the Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ).

May 18. The inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation releases a report saying the FSS consolidation schedule was too aggressive, the FAA and Lockheed Martin did not have adequate contingency plans to handle problems, and that FAA oversight was lacking. AOPA had provided important input to the IG for this study. The IG is conducting a follow-up study due out by the end of the year. AOPA is providing input to the IG for a new study on problems pilots are currently experiencing.

May 17. AOPA's vice president of regulatory affairs meets with the DOT inspector general's staff to provide details on the serious problems that pilots are experiencing with FSS services. The IG launches a new investigation of these problems and will begin site visits to the FSS hub locations and interviews with pilots over the coming weeks.

May 17. Lockheed initiates a crisis management team and plan that includes a daily teleconference with all of its facility managers to resolve problems as they happen.

May 14. After speaking with AOPA President Phil Boyer regarding problems, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey calls in senior Lockheed Martin managers. During this meeting, they promise to update the FS21 system software, fix the automated phone switch, offer temporary positions to retired FSS specialists, initiate "surge" staffing to cover peak workload periods, increase staff training, and improve communication to the pilot community.

May 14. AOPA President Phil Boyer conducts a teleconference with the FAA administrator and her deputy regarding FSS problems. During these conversations, Boyer secures their pledge to do whatever it takes to get pilots the safety of flight information they need and deserve.

May 14. AOPA staff pilots review close to 100 e-mail complaints on FSS service sent over the weekend. These complaints are prioritized, logged, and sent to the FAA and Lockheed Martin for follow-up action.

May 13. In response to a letter from AOPA, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey calls AOPA President Phil Boyer and spends nearly an hour discussing pilot experiences with him.

May 11. AOPA President Phil Boyer asks (via a letter) that FAA Administrator Marion Blakey hold Lockheed Martin's "feet to the fire to not only fix serious flight service problems, but also offer immediate remedies to solve the safety of flight issues."

May 9. AOPA vice president of regulatory affairs meets with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Inspector General's Office to outline the serious problems occurring with FSS. The IG informs AOPA that it will soon release a report to Congress on the FSS outsourcing process and will initiate a new investigation on the reported service problems. This new report will be completed by the end of the year.

May 8. Despite earlier fixes, the Lockheed Martin system fails, and pilots cannot get through to FSS for more than an hour. The backlog as a result of this failure creates long hold times. Lockheed again makes software changes to fix the problem.

May 8. AOPA holds high-level meetings with Lockheed Martin officials to detail the problems and demands immediate corrective action as service continues to deteriorate.

May 7. AOPA staff pilots review 75 e-mail complaints on FSS service sent via e-mail over the weekend. These complaints are prioritized, logged, and sent to the FAA and Lockheed Martin for follow-up action.

May 3. AOPA holds meetings with Lockheed Martin officials to ask for swift action in addressing problems being experienced by pilots using the FSS system.

April 30. AOPA staff pilots review more than 100 e-mail complaints on FSS service sent over the weekend. These complaints are prioritized, logged, and sent to the FAA and Lockheed Martin for follow-up action.

April 29. AOPA staff is informed that the Lockheed phone system has failed and the backup system does not kick in. It takes 10 minutes for Lockheed to manually activate the backup. A software fix is made to prevent this from happening in the future.

Background on FSS modernization

Lockheed Martin holds the FAA contract for FSS operations and is moving to modernize the entire system by consolidating all FSS facilities — except those in Alaska — into three hubs and 16 satellite offices. (See AOPA's issue brief.)

When Lockheed declared those three hubs were operational and began consolidating FSS stations at the rate of three per week at the end of April, the system began to fall apart, leaving pilots dealing with long hold times, system outages, and the inability to raise FSS on the radio, among other problems.

AOPA immediately responded, calling on the FAA and Lockheed to address the technical and operational issues affecting safety.

How the system failed

Lockheed launched its computerized FS21 (twenty-first century) system even though the company knew the system had numerous glitches, leaving weather briefers, many of whom were new to the job, to try to resolve these problems at the same time they were getting up to speed on the new system.

By late April, pilots reported hold times of up to 30 minutes, dropped calls, flight plans that were never entered into the system, and weather briefers who couldn't find information for a specific route of flight. Airport managers reported that they couldn't file notams to alert pilots to runway closures or lighting outages, and scores of pilots told AOPA they couldn't reach flight service on the radio to get updated weather information or to open or close a flight plan.

The FSS system crashed three times in April alone, with the longest outage lasting more than an hour.

Help for pilots

AOPA will continue to hold Lockheed and the FAA accountable. In the meantime, if you experience problems with Lockheed's service, please report it directly to the company.

AOPA has also developed a tip sheet to help you get the information you need for a safe flight.

Updated: September 14, 2007, 12:34 PM EDT