Michael Masotto, air traffic controller and one of the voices of Flight Services visited with members of PVPA and friends at the March meeting. As most pilots know, on February 1, 2005, the FAA awarded a contract for the services provided by the 58 AFSSs in the Continental United States, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii to the Lockheed Martin Corporation. Lockheed Martin assumed responsibility for providing AFSS flight services on October 4, 2005. While Lockheed Martin will maintain deliverance of flight services, the FAA will oversee the operation to insure the Agency's strict safety and service requirements are maintained.

The good news is that all the old computers will be scrapped and replaced with modern equipment. "My Commodore 64 had more power that they did," Masotto said. A new system, FS21 (Flight Service for the 21 st Century), will be implemented but at this time it is not known what it will look like or exactly how it will function. Lockheed Martin claims, according to Masotto, that the briefer will have the most updated weather products available. Route over-lays and real time graphics, just to name a couple of features will assist the briefer in giving pilots more accurate weather briefings.

Your favorite 800 number, 800-WX Brief will see some changes behind the scene but will still go to the nearest AFSS to your phone's area code number. In our case we will be speaking to a voice in Prescott, Arizona. In addition there will be discrete 866 numbers so that you can talk to a local briefer. When you call 800-WX Brief, ask for the most appropriate 866 number to suit your needs. A few of these numbers of interest to area pilots are: HHR (Hawthorne) 866-879-8252, OAK (Oakland) 866-469-7828, RAL (Riverside) 866-838-2250 and SAN (San Diego) 866-682-2175. For more information, visit the FAA Transition of Flight Services website.