But then the company began transitioning to its own equipment and aggressively closing old FSS facilities. "Thank goodness for DUATS," said Boyer, because that system was there to take the load as flight service started to collapse.
And he faulted the FAA, too, for the failures of a too-aggressive transition and consolidation. "FAA management announced the contract; said, 'Well, we're done with flight service now, we don't have to worry about it any longer;' and then literally walked away."
Boyer concluded by noting that, "We're a part of this." While AOPA didn't have a hand in selecting Lockheed Martin, the association was part of making the transition happen. AOPA educated pilots beforehand on the need for the change and "we'll educate pilots on how to brief using the new system."
A "how to" card was recently included in some 500,000 AOPA Pilot and AOPA Flight Training magazines, and an online course will be available in early 2008. And Boyer said AOPA would continue pushing until "equal or better service is truly out there."
A flight service roller coaster
With the congressional scrutiny on the flight service station (FSS) system, is service getting better? According to pilots, there's plenty of room for improvement.
AOPA's statistics and analytics staff recently surveyed 15,000 pilots about their satisfaction with FSS. Nearly 1,300 who had called FSS responded with their experiences, creating statistically valid results that give AOPA an accurate picture of the service pilots receive when they call FSS.
Overall, only 64 percent of survey respondents were satisfied with the level of service--a failing grade.
Specifically, 37 percent reported that they had hung up while waiting for a call to be answered; 85 percent were satisfied with briefer professionalism; and only 69 percent gave satisfactory ratings on briefer knowledge.
"Clearly the FAA has a way to go in its supervision of its contractor to meet the needs of pilots," said Andy Cebula, AOPA executive vice president of government affairs.
House extends current FAA funding bill
Congress passed an extension to the current FAA funding bill that extended until December 31, 2007, the government's authority to collect aviation taxes and allows the FAA to continue spending at its current budget levels.
Without the extension, aviation taxes and FAA spending authority would have lapsed on September 30. At that time, the House had passed a new FAA funding bill (H.R.2881), but the Senate had yet to complete action on its bill.
"These taxes are necessary to support the Airport and Airway Trust Fund," said House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.). "Any lapse in the aviation taxes could put the solvency of the trust fund at risk."
The aviation trust fund "cannot sustain a long-term lapse in taxes," said aviation subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.). "Aviation is too important to our nation's economy...to allow any lapse of taxes or funding for critical aviation programs."
The three-month extension gives the Senate time to complete work on its bill and allows the House and Senate to resolve the differences between their respective FAA funding bills in a conference committee.
Pilot Safety Announcements a new approach for ASF
Remember Vince and Larry, the crash test dummies ("You could learn a lot from a dummy")? What about "This is your brain on drugs"?
Taking a cue from such classic public service announcements, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation is trying a different approach to the problem of improper fuel management (which causes nearly three accidents per week). Its new series of pilot safety announcements (PSAs) aims to raise awareness of the issue without lecturing, and with a sense of humor.
The first of the three short video PSAs asks the question: What if the airlines handled fuel management the way some general aviation pilots do? As the jet departs for Hawaii, its pilot begins his PA announcement and...well, you'll have to visit the ASF Web site to find out the special message he has for his passengers.
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