Now children Briefing Officers were men and woman employed by DCA/DOT/DOTAC/CAA, to provide flight-planning assistance to pilots from rookie to ATPL level. They would supply you with the ARFOR and TAF for your flights, Notam information, provide us mere ppl's with help in flight planning, best way to get through busy airspace etc, a marvelous system.
But like all good things people like to want to change it, so Mr Hawke got his friend MR Bosch(nothing to do with spark plugs) to look into cost recovery as a forerunner to airline deregulation. MR Hawke also had a close friend who run an airline at the time. A young four eyed purveyor of cheap imported electronics goods also got involved as well and in the early 1990's we saw the demise of the Flight Service Officer, the friendly and helpful Briefing Officer and the mass closure of the Flight Service Unit,
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RIP YMMB Briefing Office and all those that served us lowly humble PPL's