As our previous post explained, the FAA is decommissioning 670 RCOs across the US. Some are already out of service. The map below shows the frequencies that will be left west of the Mississippi after this project is completed.
Local 2011 is working with Local 2010 to get a map of the remaining RCO east of the Mississippi.
Are you an aviation and/or history fan? Then this video will bring you joy.
Below is a direct copy and paste from the IAM newsletter. I would only add that the folks who will be joining our local are being held up by this very issue and have been for at least a year.
Tell Your Senators: We Need Faster Labor Contracts! Send Your Letter
The bipartisan Faster Labor Contracts Act (S. 844) has passed in the House and is now in the Senate!
This piece of labor reform will end unfair delays in reaching a first contract for new unions, thereby ensuring that when workers exercise their legally protected right to vote to form a union, a collective bargaining agreement follows in a timely manner.
Lead sponsor Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), alongside Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), introduced the bill which amends the National Labor Relations Act to include timelines for meetings to begin first-contract negotiations, mediating if the parties are stuck, and have a binding arbitration panel to ensure a first contract is secured after workers have successfully voted for union representation.
Once workers vote to form a union, they begin negotiating an initial contract with their employer. But the process of negotiating this first contract does not have any time frame under the law—so undue tactical delay can hinder the process and leave workers fighting for years to obtain this first agreement.
That is why the Faster Labor Contracts Act is so important.
Corporations should not be able to hold up, stall, and drag out bargaining for a first contract — they should be obliged under the law to reach a collective bargaining agreement in a reasonable time frame. Making it illegal to draw out negotiations would incentivize employers to faithfully bargain in a timely manner.
Tell your Senators now to cosponsor and support the Faster Labor Contracts Act so that new union members aren't the only ones motivated to establish a collective bargaining agreement, their right under federal law.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-we-need-faster-labor-contracts-send-your-letter/
IAM Local 2011 is dedicated to the safety of the National Airspace. It's the mission each of us was assigned when we accepted our positions, regardless of whether we were hired by the FAA, Lockheed, or Leidos.
The FAA OCC recently sent a list of 670 frequencies that will be removed from our service. These frequencies are for remote communication VOR voice outlets across the country. There are 125 of those that are currently not in-service. These are mostly in addition to the ones that have NOTAMs already.
To be perfectly clear, these 670, including the 125 already not in service, do NOT have NOTAMs at the current time.
In the spirit of that original mission, we wanted to let the flying public be aware that in partnership with our siblings in Local 2010, we are working to get these NOTAMs issued. Regrettably, we are unable to provide a list of the 125 frequencies already removed; however, the list of the 670 frequencies scheduled for decommissioning are available here on the FAA website.
Please know that if you reach out to FSS on an RCO frequency and we don't reply, we aren't ignoring you. It's very possible that the frequency is no longer available for us to answer. As far as we are aware, the centers, approaches, and towers are also unaware of this change.
1-800-wxbrief remains available if you are inflight and need information immediately, especially if you are able to connect your phone to a Bluetooth headset.
We will keep you updated as we can.
Our negotiation team went to Hollywood, MD to visit the IAM Winpisinger Center, our training facility, to get ready for the contract negotiation with Leidos.
The negotiations were the first week in March and were successful. Leidos and IAM Locals 2010 and 2011 have a contract through April 2029.
A few weeks ago, one of our flight service specialists at the FTW Hub received a call from the instructor of a flight school. The instructor had called for a briefing to show his students how it was done and what they could expect. Once the specialist realized that it was a demonstration for a classroom, he was able to give a full lesson with a question and answer session with no prior preparation. He spent 40 minutes on that call, giving the students an in-depth understanding of what kinds of briefings we provide, how to ask for each type, when each of those are appropriate, and answering every question put to him about weather and the sources we use to provide the best briefing.
This is not the first call like that we've taken. We do this fairly frequently, if phone traffic allows. The flight service specialists in the Fort Worth Hub Collective Bargaining Unit have a minimum of 20 years of experience. Our most experienced specialists have nearly 50 years. This experience is why we're able to give an off-the-cuff class without a lesson plan and answer question after question without any problem.
An act like this requires people with excellent training, years of experience, and a genuine love for the job they do. It takes a sense of responsibility to lead them to spend the time teaching the next generation of pilots.
This is not something you can get from AI.
On November 19, 2025, a person called 1-800-WxBrief,
concerned that his friend had not check in when he landed at KZPH, Zephyrhills,
FL. The friend was on cross country flight of 583 miles, a trip which should
have taken 3hours and 11 minutes plus fuel stops. Honestly, in the aircraft he
was flying, he wouldn't have had to land at all for fuel. While the caller did
not have a specific ETA, the aircraft showed an alarming drop in altitude
according to ADSB data near Beauford, SC. He had taken off at 1345EST. His
friend call Flight Service at approximately 1900EST.
That's us. We are IAM Local 2011, the union representing
Flight Service Specialists and Flight Data Coordination Specialists working for
Leidos FFSP at the Fort Worth Facility. We are proud members of the IAM Union.
Our collective bargaining unit represents approximately 80 employees in this
location. Our sister local, IAM Local 2010, represents the employees in the
Leesburg facility.
The Flight Service Specialists are the folks you speak to
first when calling for pre-flight briefings or in the air to activate, close,
or get a weather update and issue a pilot report through Radio on frequencies
like 122.2, 122.5, 122,3 and such. Combined with our siblings in Leesburg these
experienced people provide service 24/7/365 from the Bahamas and Puerto Rico
across the contiguous 48 states to Guam. Fort Worth generally works the area
west of the Mississippi River to Guam, and Leesburg handles the area east of
the Mississippi to Puerto Rico. They educate, assist, and advise pilots on
weather, NOTAMs, TFRs and any other pertinent information along your route.
The Flight Data Coordination Specialists assist airport
managers and operations with issuing/cancelling NOTAMS, assist the public with
airspace and obstruction NOTAMS, monitors the VFR Inbound list, and conducts
phone Search and Rescue operations for all domestic flights on a VFR Flight
plan as well as all flights not on a flight plan when a concerned party
notifies ATC about a missing aircraft.
And that's where we come back to the story. Remember that missing aircraft from Norfolk to Zephyrhills? Our evening shift FDCS worked as a team to alert all airports in the area, center, approach controls, military bases, the RCC, and law enforcement regarding the flight. No one had seen any smoke nor heard an ELT. We gave law enforcement a latitude and longitude of where to start the search. The RCC launched the Civil Air Patrol when the aircraft had not been found in any of those places. We persisted no matter how many times we were told, "Negative info."
The aircraft had suffered a catastrophic engine failure and flipped upside down as it crashed into a river. The aircraft sank but luckily the pilot was able to swim out and make it to the muddy and marshy bank. The area between the pilot's location and the nearest road was a wetland so walking out was unlikely. The pilot was stuck, chilly, muddy, and wet, in the fog for 7 hours before he was rescued from the riverbank unharmed. He was incredibly lucky.
One of our services is assistance in filing flight plans. By
policy, if he'd had a VFR flight plan on file, we'd have begun looking for him
2 hours earlier at ETA +30 minutes. If he'd called Inflight reporting an
aircraft in distress, we'd have begun looking immediately.
Please file your VFR Flight Plan. Check your charts
for Radio frequencies. When in doubt 122.2 covers most areas. Save FSS
1-800-992-7433 on your phone as well as 1-877-487-6867, the number we use to
call when your aircraft is in Search and Rescue. You can call us in flight on
your Bluetooth headset. Barring those things, give your friends and family our
number, your aircraft tail number, and aircraft type in case you forget to do the
flight planning. We'll be there for you and your family.
As our previous post explained, the FAA is decommissioning 670 RCOs across the US. Some are already out of service. The map below shows the ...
