FSS close-down

[HighRoller]

Anybody hear if NavCanada is really going to close FSS across Canada including Springbank,
Medicine Hat, etc?
Hey, we need these people, just to visit and put face to a voice, let alone get the best weather
advice on some of the most unpredictable
weather in the world.

[alycat]

I have heard recently that due to the extensive usage of GPS in Southern Alberta, fewer pilots are filing flight plans in the area. Coupled with cutbacks at NavCanada, it is rumoured that certain stations may be shut down in the near future, including Springbank and possibly Medicine Hat. While this is inconvenient for many pilots, the increasing versatility of GPS and the use of the internet to obtain weather has resulted in fewer direct services being used by pilots. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Luftwaffle]

They are doing it in BC. And I don't like it. The friendly briefers at YVR tell me that NavCan will centralize their jobs to the interior. So instead of talking to someone who knows who I am, and what I do, and who can look out the window and tell me that there is or isn't a cloud bank over the Alex Fraser Bridge, I'll get someone reading an area forecast and METARs to me. There is some really useful briefing information that starts with "while I was driving to work ..."

[HighRoller]

There's a great bunch of people who just
have to look out the window of that shabby
ATCO trailer at Springbank and tell me what's
going on in the Banff corridor while I'm
putting on my shoes in the burb's.
This is very important for anyone contemplating doing any mountain flying or in
the eastern slopes of the Rockies-LIKE MYSELF!!!

------------------
HighRoller

[pigboat]

Why close Springbank? Isn't it the main GenAv airport for YC?
The whole system is becoming a huge funnel. lots of room to enter, but only so much can get squeezed out the bottom. I was in OW in March, and not that I needed it, tried to call FSS to check the wx back home. Finally had to call the flying club to get a number. The 800 number I got was for QB FSS. Not bad for the Nations Capital. :)

[This message has been edited by pigboat (edited 27 June 2001).]

[Spenda]

This is a dreadful thing. I moved to the UK two years ago in an effort to find some flying work. One of the things that strikes me as insane over here is the lack of current meteorological information to pilots involved in General Aviation. The club I was flying at during my licence conversion got weather faxed from the met office twice a day. If you were planning a flight outside 25 nm you were on your own for finding weather. None of the staff at the club could provide me with even a phone number where I could get weather. The implications on flight safety are outrageous. I remember at the time thinking "if only they had an effective and efficient FSS system here like they do in Canada." The staff at the FSS at CYBW do an excellent job and I hope they are given the chance to stay at Springbank where they'll be allowed to speak directly with pilots.

If anyone has any information regarding a petition or some other such collective voice in these planned closures, please e-mail me at [email protected] as I would very much like to voice my opposition.

Thanks

[HighRoller]

Hey Spenda! Glad you know those folks.

Hanger talk right now is Nav Canada want
to run at a profit, and by gosh this is
one of the ways they think they will do it.

[407 Driver]

HighRoller...I agree with you, It doesn't make a lot of sense to close Springbank. I'm located west of you, out in the big rocks (YGE), and I also rely on the Springbank folks for Wx advice on my trips east, into the big city.

If my local knowlege, pireps, etc may be of assistance to you on your flights west, give me an email at [email protected] and I can give you our office Phone #

[no sig]

I hope NAVCanada reconsiders. Spenda makes a very valid comment on the impact of losing local briefing officers throughout the UK. Time was when the local met man could give you a briefing you could rely on, now days with the Central Forecast Office, I'm afraid we miss out on the accuracy we once had.

Notwithstanding, with the internet these days there is little excuse for any flying club not to be able to produce the most up to date weather at any time.

[penguin]

Guys and gals, write to your local MPs and let them what you think of the situation.

[Speedbird48]

Same in the US. We used to have these great people in the FSS's all over the place with lots of local knowledge and now they have been replaced with "AUTOMATION" or nothing at all. Then the Fed wonders why we have accidents away from the main centers!
I remember the guy at Houlton, Maine who fixed a taxi and hotel, got Canadian Customs to come over the fence and check me out and gave me a wonderful weather briefing as I headed North for an Atlantic crossing.
We all need real people with real experience and please save the FSS's everywhere.

[HighRoller]

Thanx penguin. Got my MP's address and gonna
send a little note. I must be Canadian-first
time I ever voiced an opinion to the Govt'.

Maybe "Art" from Civil Aviation should get a
c.c. of this too.

Come on Canucks-his address is somewhere in
this A.I.P. Send something as well!!

[The Real Buff]

<I>fewer pilots are filing flight plans...</I>

Is this happening? This is akin to those who run red lights in city centres - an increasingly common phenomenon?

This smacks of anarchy, ladies and germs...Is this what we are about to experience within our industry? "Forget" the rules - I've got a BETTER way - MY way...

God protect us all...

[Longtimer]

Re profit motive, unless I am mistaken, their charter does not allow for them to make a profit. Re letters of protest, you should also copy them to the folks at NavCan,

Customer Service
The NAV CANADA Customer Service Centre provides customers with a single point of contact to express concerns or to obtain answers to your questions about NAV CANADA.

The Centre operates from 8:00 to 18:00 EST, Monday to Friday.

Email: [email protected]
Global toll free telephone number: 1-800-876-4693-4
(within North America disregard the last digit)
Toll-free fax line:
1-877-663-6656


Local fax line:
1-613-563-3426
Address - Head Office: 77 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 5L6
Mailing address - Head Office: NAV CANADA
P.O. Box 3411 Station 'D'
Ottawa, ON K1P 5L6

[MikePapaKilo]

Longtimer is correct. There can be no profit motive for Nav Canada. By law, it is a non-share capital corporation, and the service fees it collects must be used to pay for operating costs, retire debt from buying the air navigation service from the federal government, and to develop the system. I wrote to "[email protected]" to obtain copies of their annual reports and business plan. Interesting reading.

I also attended some of the briefings and consultations about the development of the FIC's in '99, and I was at the Calgary Flying Club in January when the nav can guys were there for a whole week having meetings about Springbank FSS.

Best answer to all this FSS closure stuff is to inform yourself. Call navcan at their toll free numbers. I found out that Transport is very much in agreement with the FIC's, and COPA has given its blessing, with some reservations i.e. "Prove it".

Sure, you could write to Art Laflamme, but he'd write back and tell you that the FIC's are government approved, and he'd probably say that you should read as much as you can about navcan before you complain about stuff for which you are short of info. (at least, that's the word I got !!) When I called the toll free customer service line, Navcan sent me so much stuff I took a long time to read it, and I like what I read.
See ya!
MPK

P.S. Read the web site, and check out the weather products. Awesome ! Then get a FIC briefing and see what's to come. I don't want to sound like a cheerleader, cause I'm a real "show me" guy, but Transport would never be able to do what Navcan is doing.
JMHO

MPK :)