WHO THE HECK IS Flight Service (or how are they still around?)

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.