When the FAA handed off the Flight Service Station system to Lockheed Martin more than a year ago, AOPA supported the change, expecting to see improved service. But last week AOPA officials met with Lockheed to complain about long hold times, disconnects and lost flight plans. “This is not the level of service pilots expect,” AOPA’s Andy Cebula told Lockheed officials at the meeting. “Lockheed and the FAA must live up to the standards they set.” Many of the problems have been blamed on computer glitches and on temporary staff shortages as workers are moved and retrained. Lockheed told AOPA that it plans to work through all these transitions soon, and pilots should see an overall improvement in quality by July. Meanwhile, if you experience problems with Lockheed’s service, AOPA asks that you please report it on the company’s Web site . AVweb posted an opinion poll last week asking if FSS consolidation has affected the quality of weather briefings. Only 6 percent of respondents had seen improvement, while 58 percent said service is worse since the consolidation. The rest said it was about the same or they didn’t know.
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