Washington, DC Office Handling Alabama-Area Calls
Have you noticed a
significant change recently in flight service operations throughout
the eastern third of the US? Lockheed Martin hopes not... although
there has indeed been a major shift.
Lockheed representatives tell ANN the company's Automated Flight
Service Station (FSS) team achieved a major milestone last week, as
the flight service network's Washington, DC Hub in Leesburg, VA
went live, and began using a new mission operating system called
Flight Services for the 21st Century (FS21). The transition took
place February 22, at 0100 EST.
"It is extremely gratifying to see the FAA/Lockheed Martin team
achieve this major milestone, delivering a new level of service to
the aviation community and our Flight Service Specialists," said
Dan Courain, Lockheed Martin's Vice President of Aviation
Services.
T
he facility is the first
of its kind to operate under Lockheed Martin's FS21 system, a
system designed to modernize and streamline the flow of information
transfer to and from pilots, by allowing all flight service
stations to share the same set of nationwide data.
Under FS21, operations previously handled by 58 FSS offices
under FAA purview will instead be conducted by 16 privatized field
stations, along with three hub stations. Leesburg is the first such
hub to go online; locations in Prescott, AZ and Fort Worth, TX are
expected to follow within the next seven months.
With the transition to FS21, a so-called FSS "heritage site" in
Anniston, AL ceased operations. All calls from the Anniston area
are now routed to Leesburg.
It didn't take long for that to happen. Within the first minute
of the switchover, the Washington Hub received a call from
Southwest Airlines flight 8503, who requested clearance from
Dothan, AL to Orlando, FL. Currently operating with approximately
20 flight service specialists, the Washington Hub will begin to
have calls redirected to it from additional flight service areas as
the transition moves forward.
Since Lockheed won the
contract to privatize the FSS network in 2005, the Aircraft Owners
and Pilots Association has held Lockheed accountable for any
degradation in service quality experienced by pilots working with
the newly-streamlined effort. As Aero-News reported last
year, AOPA surveyed its members on Lockheed's
performance, and presented its concerns to the company's
executives.
"We were involved in the FAA's study to contract flight service
and were successful in ensuring the new system would be focused on
customer service," said Melissa Rudinger, AOPA vice president of
regulatory affairs. "Now we are making sure Lockheed lives up to
those promises."
Rudinger adds pilots shouldn't be able to tell a difference in
the services they receive from the newly-consolidated hub. "We met
with Lockheed officials earlier this February to discuss the
activation and ensure pilot services would not be hindered," she
said.
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