Wx Watch: Briefer World

Some pilots may think of flight service station (FSS) specialists as mere disembodied voices on the telephone or radio, there to spread discouragement and disinformation. The truth, of course, is quite dif-ferent. Yes, some briefers can seem like grumpy automatons. And yes, depending on the weather, a pilot's attitude, and the kind of day he or she is having, briefers can sound discouraging notes and promote confusion. That comes with the job. FSS briefers are the backbone of general aviation's weather information system. In these days of seemingly rampant, fawning cyber-adoration, the FSS briefer holds his place as primary weather-giver. A pilot who receives a ton of material in a DUATS briefing, ordownloads another ton of preflight weather information off the Internet, is faced with a sizable interpretation and translation job. Some pilots are not up to the task, and a good portion of those tons will end up in the circular file.

Briefers do all the interpretations for you. Maybe that's why many pilots still prefer human-to-human interchanges of questions and answers for their preflight weather.

"Is the front moving fast? Are there any sigmets associated with it?" you ask. "Yes, 35 knots, and no, there are no sigmets, but I just received two pilot reports for moderate turbulence in that area. And my radar shows Level Three precipitation returns," the briefer responds. It would take much searching for you to find all that out from a computer-delivered briefing. Moreover, computers can't use vocal inflection to transmit and receive the subtle — and sometimes not-so-subtle — communications that also make FSS briefings so potentially valuable. The hesitancy of a low-time pilot. The confidence of a seasoned pro. The overconfidence of the know-it-all. The indecision of a pilot faced with a challenging weather situation.

Where do briefers learn their skills? How do they earn their stripes? It all starts with being selected to attend the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. Some applicants come to the academy as aviation greenhorns, with no flying background whatsoever. Others may have transferred from different areas of responsibility within the air traffic control network. A specialist recruit starts out with 10 weeks of training at the academy. The coursework includes classes in aviation in general, aerodynamics, the airspace system, meteorology, and the manuals that briefers must use. Classes and laboratory sessions let students learn how to use all the equipment at an FSS, as well as call up and interpret weather graphics and satellite imagery.

After graduating, FSS specialists-to-be then spend six to 10 months at an FSS facility, where they receive on-the-job training. Now they're apprentices, and they'll be watched like hawks to see how sharp they are at learning their various duties. At every step of the way, they work with supervisory instructors with years of experience.

There are six positions that FSS specialists must master: preflight, weather observation, flight data, inflight, and airport advisories. Most of those job responsibilities are self-explanatory. The flight data position is where flight plans are received and checked for errors, messages and reports (such as notams) are issued and relayed, and search and rescue efforts are initiated and/or coordinated. The inflight position encompasses all air-ground communications including lake and mountain reporting services and flight watch (which, by the way, is provided only at flight service stations operated near air route traffic control centers). Airport advisories are issued only at those airports with that service, indicated by the AAS (Airport Advisory Service) abbreviation on charts and other publications. AAS entails providing arriving and departing pilots with information about, and location of, any known traffic in the area — it's not intended to provide separation service between participating aircraft.

At the inflight position, apprentices work radio frequencies while instructors hover over them. At this point in their education, they're not responsible for any errors. Like a student driver or pilot, the instructor carries that burden.

Ever received a briefing from a specialist who seemed slightly unsure of him- or herself? It may have been an apprentice, new to the task and nervous about the old-timer listening to every word of the exchange.

When the time is right, the station supervisor is informed in writing that an apprentice is ready to go solo and become a journeyman specialist. What follows is a formal evaluation of the apprentice's performance at each position, featuring briefings monitored by an official from the National Weather Service. If successful, the specialist earns his pilot weather brief certification. To be fully certified, the facility then must endorse the apprentice for solo work. As journeymen, specialists start with GS-12 government pay grades, meaning they pull down at least $46,246 a year. That's quite a jump from the pay grades in the developmental stages, which begin at GS-7 ($26,000 per year).

Once fully certified, specialists start down the path to becoming grizzled pros. Along the way, they have thousands of phone conversations with pilots eager for information. Every six months they have technical appraisals of their performance, to test their competency.

Many times, the specialists' customers — pilots — can be equally testing. If we think some of our briefings are studies in fallibility, then listen to a sampling of some common briefer complaints about pilots.

Based on an informal poll of a dozen FSS specialists, here are their biggest pet peeves:

• Misunderstanding of terminology. Briefers say that pilots often don't know the meaning of some of the terms used in weather briefings. The switch to METARs and TAFs hasn't helped a bit in this area.
• Not listening. Several briefers said that as they give briefings, pilots often say "yeah, yeah," indicating their impatience with the speed of the briefing. Later in the conversation, they'll ask questions about issues that the briefers already addressed.
• Offense over the "VFR not recommended" (VNR) briefing advisory. A few pilots are insulted by the condescension implied in the VNR wording. But if the weather falls outside certain paramters, briefers are required to issue the VNR warning. VNR is not a restriction, briefers say, but pilots should pay attention to the reason for the advisory anyway.
• Being in a hurry. Sometimes pilots are in such a rush to fly that they cut off the briefer, thinking they have everything they need to know. While briefers are required to deliver certain information in a certain order in each of the three types of briefings (standard, abbreviated, and outlook), if a pilot wants to cut the briefing short there's nothing to stop him or her.
• Calling flight watch for the wrong reason. Flight watch is for inflight updates of weather information — not for filing flight plans, receiving full-blown weather briefings, or asking for route changes. Some pilots apparently don't understand this.
• Calling AAS frequencies for the wrong reason. AAS is for traffic information only — not for weather briefings or filing flight plans. It's especially maddening when a pilot ties up an AAS frequency (usually 123.6 MHz) with a long-winded briefing request while several aircraft are flying in the AAS airport's vicinity.
• Initiating a multiplex communication without identifying the appropriate VOR. As we all know, it's possible to contact flight service in flight by transmitting on 122.1 MHz and listening on a VOR frequency. Too many pilots, we're told, call up on 122.1 — but forget to tell flight service which VOR they've tuned! The FSS specialist, who may be responsible for monitoring a dozen or more VORs for voice transmissions, can go slowly bonkers as he tries to figure out which VOR frequency to respond over. So let this be a reminder to identify which VOR you're listening to. That, and to make sure that the VOR you've tuned has voice capability (If the VOR frequency numerals in a sectional, WAC, or low altitude en route chart's navaid box are underlined, then there's no voice capability for that VOR).

Once full-fledged briefers become comfortable in their jobs, they're free to add to a briefing whatever extra spin they feel is necessary. They can spoon-feed the timid, or give the high-time, fly-every-day pilot the items they know he'll be particularly interested in. "What I'll do is, I'll give him what he asks for, then give him what he needs," one briefer commented.

As for the script, it's always the same. For standard briefings, there's a specific sequence of information that must be conveyed. For abbreviated briefings (those designed for pilots who've already had a standard briefing and just want an update) any weather changes or new notams will be covered. For outlook briefings, the drill is to go over the longer-range forecast products.

Can a briefer run with gut instincts, and use ingenuity to convey important messages? You bet. One briefer recalled the time when a hurried pilot called for a briefing for a return trip after Thanksgiving. His whole family would be flying with him. The weather was lousy, with low IFR and icing all along the route. The briefer sensed a get-home-itis problem. "I don't mind if you kill yourself, but leave your wife and kids here [if you decide to take off]." The pilot flew the next day, in better conditions.

We've all had briefings that left a lot to be desired. And by the same token we've all had flights that could have gone better, had we done our jobs better. So let's not cast the first stone. Just as pilots are by and large a diligent, proficient batch, so are briefers. They have a big say in the safety of our flights, so listen up when they talk.

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