Flight service station

A flight service station (FSS) is an air traffic facility that provides information and services to aircraft pilots before, during, and after flights, but unlike air traffic control (ATC), is not responsible for giving instructions or clearances or providing separation. They do, however, relay clearances from ATC for departure or approaches. The people who communicate with pilots from an FSS are referred to as flight service specialists.

The precise services offered by stations vary by country, but typical FSS services may include providing preflight briefings including weather and notices to airmen (NOTAMs); filing, opening, and closing flight plans; monitoring navigational aids (NAVAIDs); collecting and disseminating pilot reports (PIREPs) and airport surface weather observations; offering traffic advisories to aircraft on the ground or in flight; relaying instructions or clearances from air traffic control; relaying information from or about airborne aircraft to their home bases, military bases or homeland security, providing weather advisories to aircraft inflight, initiating search and rescue on missing VFR aircraft, and providing assistance in an emergency. In many countries, flight service stations also operate at mandatory frequency airports to help co-ordinate traffic in the absence of air traffic controllers, and may take over a control tower frequency at a controlled airport when the tower is closed.

In most cases, it is possible to reach flight service stations either by radio in flight, or by telephone on the ground. Recently, some countries, such as Canada and the United States, have been consolidating flight services into large regional centres, replacing former local flight service stations with remote communications outlets (RCOs) connected to the centres.

As of 2005, the FAA federal contractor for their flight service function throughout the continental U.S., Hawaii and the Caribbean was Lockheed Martin (LMFS). Leidos has taken over as of 17 August 2016, following a merger with Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions Business. (AFSS used to refer to the Automated Flight Service Station.) The FAA still oversees flight service in Alaska. At this time Leidos operates two large hub facilities. Flight service duties and responsibilities are divided into preflight, inflight and flight data. They also monitor the HIWAS and TIBS recorded weather briefings, which pilots can access via radio or phone. The services are provided at no charge to the flying public. Preflight – Primarily responsible for filing flight plans, giving preflight weather briefings, and providing information concerning air traffic, they also take information from pilots coming into the US to notify the United States Customs Service that an aircraft is inbound. The Leidos call tree has the ability to route calls to any flight service facility in the country.

Inflight – which the pilots call “Radio” (which is the ICAO standard callsign for a generic air-to-ground advisory station and employed for a number of functions worldwide), activates, cancels, and alters VFR flight plans. They take position reports and changes of destination for both civilian and military aircraft. They relay IFR and SVFR clearances to aircraft on the ground either by phone or through their frequencies when there is no direct method of communication with the air traffic control facility governing the area. At border stations, Radio also takes information from aircraft crossing into the U.S., and issues transponder squawk codes to VFR aircraft which identify them to Homeland Security's radar. They relay information on forest fires to the U.S. Forest Service. Inflight monitors VHF and UHF frequencies, VOR voices, and emergency frequencies – from 60 to 100 different frequencies per area. The United States FSS radio frequencies are published in several FAA publications, including airport facility directories (AFD), VFR sectional maps, and IFR low and high altitude en route charts. When pilots have an inflight emergency, such as being lost, having smoke in the cockpit, or having low fuel and needing directions to the nearest airport with fuel, they call flight service for assistance. In addition, some (often more remote) airports now also have stations called AFIS in accordance with international nomenclature, but this is implemented as an ATIS or AWOS-like recording, not a live service. The call sign "RADIO" is inherited from early radio communications stations that relayed ATC instructions and clearances at a time when enroute control did not yet have its own radio equipment, but rather relied on teletext links with these stations. In later years, many of these functions were taken over directly by enroute ATC facilities, but the name stuck, giving rise to the modern FSS concept.

Radio can take flight plans and give pre-flight briefings over the radio in extenuating circumstances.

Leidos until early 2016 had another inflight position called Flight Watch, which was dedicated to updating weather for aircraft en route. Radio now performs that function. Enroute Flight Advisory Service (EFAS) or Flight Watch was designed to give pilots who are already airborne updates on weather during their current flight, and take pilots' reports or PIREPS, which they enter into the computer for transmission to the National Weather Service.

The Flight Data position in flight service is an informational clearinghouse that pilots seldom speak to unless they are calling for an IFR clearance by telephone. Flight Data is responsible for coordination with other air traffic facilities, U.S Customs and Homeland security, the Fire Service, military baseops, airport managers and law enforcement.