The forecast was for good VFR from my starting point in Orlando to Lakefront Airport in New Orleans. The first hour proved the forecast to be accurate. Would the nice weather hold for the remainder of the flight? I decided to pose the question to the nearest flight service station.
A few minutes earlier I had crossed Seminole VOR in Tallahassee. According to the charts, the Gainesville, Florida, Flight Service Station maintains a remote communications outlet (RCO) at Tallahassee. I punched the push-to-talk switch and asked the air traffic controller handling my flight for permission to leave frequency to get a weather update. He approved the request, and I tuned the radio to 122.4 MHz, the RCO frequency posted on the chart. I listened momentarily to ensure that no one was talking, then announced, "Gainesville radio, Gainesville radio, Twin Comanche Seven-Four-Five-Four-Yankee, Tallahassee VOR, One-Twenty-Two-Four." A moment later a Gainesville FSS specialist acknowledged my call.
I reported my position, altitude, and intended destination, then asked for the latest en route weather and the current terminal observation at New Orleans. The specialist's response surprised me. "Call Jacksonville Flight Watch for en route weather updates," he said.
Huh? This was a first. I'd never before had a flight service station refuse to provide me with an en route weather update. I know that Flight Watch (122.0 MHz), officially known as the En Route Flight Advisory Service (EFAS), functions as a streamlined in-flight weather update service for pilots, and as such does not perform all the services of the traditional flight service station, such as filing and closing flight plans, taking position reports, and delivering complete preflight briefings. Here's how the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) describes it:
"EFAS is a service specifically designed to provide en route aircraft with timely and meaningful weather advisories pertinent to the type of flight intended, route of flight, and altitude. In conjunction with this service, EFAS is also a central collection and distribution point for pilot reported weather information. EFAS is provided by specially trained specialists in selected AFSS's (automated flight service stations) controlling multiple Remote Communications Outlets covering a large geographical area and is normally available throughout the conterminous U.S. and Puerto Rico from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. EFAS provides communications capabilities for aircraft flying 5,000 feet above ground level to 17,500 feet msl on a common frequency of 122.0."
The AIM also says that, among their many other duties, flight service stations provide "en route communications." I interpret that to include en route weather updates. I had never been told that a full-service flight service station is not supposed to provide en route and destination weather updates to pilots in flight.
What if you're flying lower than 5,000 feet, or the Flight Watch frequency is busy, or you're out of range of a Flight Watch RCO? The Gainesville specialist sounded like he valued bureaucracy above the information needs of a pilot concerned about the weather ahead.
"You're not able to provide the information?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"I can, but that's a Flight Watch function," he insisted. Then he reconsidered. "Would you like me to provide you with that information?"
"I sure would appreciate it;" I said. The briefing was professional and complete. I got the needed information, thanked him, tuned the radio back to the ATC frequency I had been on earlier, and checked in.
Chester had a different experience. A VFR-only pilot, he spent several days getting to New Orleans, stopping along the way to make sales calls. He reported that the weather cooperated beautifully, and the flight was flawless.
Not so on the return. Chester encountered an unforecast area of developing weather. He descended to fly under the clouds, climbed back to his 3,500-foot MSL cruising altitude, and headed toward Tallahassee. But in talking to Tallahassee approach control, he realized that the weather was closing in there as well. Again he found himself in a descent to remain VFR. That dropped him below approach control's radar coverage, so they said goodbye.
Chester turned south, and with the help of his GPS and the Apalachicola River, he found the airport and landed safely. He spent two long nights in that sleepy town, battling the flu before he was able to depart and complete the trip back to his home airport in St. Petersburg.
Chester had neglected to check in with flight service when the weather began to deteriorate. If he had, he might have received early warning of the nature and extent of the weather. Armed with that information, he probably would have made the decision to land sooner. Or, he might have worked with the FSS specialist to come up with a route of flight that would have enabled him to make an end run around the weather to the north and complete the trip home that day.
Why hadn't he called flight service? Simple. As a new pilot, Chester had to concentrate on dealing with the developing situation. He was not prepared to divide his attention between flying in deteriorating conditions and talking to flight service--an experience that usually requires the pilot to form complex mental images of the location of the weather that the specialist is describing.
Second, Chester admits that he is confused by the arcane procedures used to contact a flight service station in flight. Do you call Flight Watch, and if so, which one? Or, do you scan the chart for an RCO frequency in the area you're flying in and call that FSS---only to be told that you should contact Flight Watch for en route weather updates? And speaking of RCOs, does 122.1 R mean you transmit on 122.1 MHz, or receive, as the R seems to indicate? If you aren't sure, you probably won't bother.
Yes, the answers to those and other flight service questions are in various FAA publications including the AIM and the Airport/Facility Directory.
Yes, we should learn and practice the procedures so that we're comfortable with the process when we really need to make use of the service. Even so, it shouldn't be so difficult and confusing for pilots alike to get basic safety-of-flight information.
