Air to Ground
Finding Flight Watch
A pilot recently emailed a complaint expressing his confusion over what Flight Watch was, and how to use it. Like many pilots he was confusing Flight Watch with Flight Following. Flight Following is a service provided by an Air Route Traffic Control Center wherein a VFR pilot can ask the Center to follow his flight on radar and time permitting, give him traffic point outs. Since Center is primarily concerned with IFR traffic, taking on VFR traffic is optional and at the discretion of the controller on duty, though most of the time they accommodate the pilots.
Flight Watch is the radio designation for Enroute Flight Advisory Service (EFAS), and is a Flight Service function designed to help pilots maintain awareness of the weather conditions prevalent along their current route of flight. This service is not for future flight planning, only for the flight you are currently making. If you took off an hour ago from Anniston, Alabama on a 3 hour flight to central Louisiana and your preflight weather briefing included a forecast for afternoon thunderstorms, this is where you can call to ask for weather updates enroute.
Flight Watch handles both high and low altitude aircraft and the specialists working it are sensitive to the needs of each kind of aircraft. If a Beechjet takes off out of Phoenix going to Chicago and he know that there are thunderstorms from Canada to Mexico, he can call the specialist at Albuquerque Flight Watch who is maintaining radar awareness to request where the lowest tops in the line are showing. An SR22 or Mooney can call to ask if pilots ahead of their location have confirmed forecast icing or turbulence, then ask for current weather at their destination.
Part of the Flight Watch function is to take pilot reports and continuously update the NWS on observations that pilots make. Pilot reports are really the only way to confirm that forecast turbulence, icing and other weather hazards to aviation do or do not exist. Flight Watch boundaries coincide with the boundaries of the Center’s airspace it is based in. The hours that Flight Watch is open are 6am to 10pm local time based on the physical location of that center. Although Lockheed Martin operates the Flight Watches from only three Hubs, the hours are still associated with the location of the Center. For example: Chicago Center is located in (duh) Chicago, the association Flight Watch is currently located at the Lockheed Martin Hub in Ashburn, Virginia. The hours of the Chicago Flight Watch are 6am to 10pm – Chicago Local Time – which is the Central time zone.
When Flight Watch is closed, Radio is still open 24 hours a day to update weather and take pilot reports. The reason Flight Watch was created to begin with has to do simply with the expansion in aviation. Radio deals with opening and closing VFR flight plans, relaying clearances and a plethora of other tasks. They are supposed to take calls on a first come basis generally. If an aircraft calls and asks them for weather updates – this takes several minutes to get the needed data from the pilot, input it into the computer and relay back the weather info. In the meantime you have to put several aircraft on standby who only want to take 15 seconds to activate, or possibly need a clearance ASAP.
Radio will still answer weather calls and the specialist can choose to answer the questions himself, or hand you off to Flight Watch if he is busy. However, keep in mind that calling Flight Watch is the best bet to begin with for several reasons.
Flight Watch specialists have received advanced weather training from the NWS that most specialists working Radio have not had.
Flight Watch is required to maintain awareness of the weather in their area at all times – Radio is involved with numerous other tasks and has to change gears and computer screens to bring up requested weather.
Calling Flight Watch at low altitudes is easy. The frequency is 122.0 across the country. It is not necessary to know which flight watch to call, but it is vital that your position be given reference an airport or navaid in the initial call up. If you simply call “Flight Watch, N123.” You may not get an answer, or you may get three answers from three different places causing an ear splitting heterodyne and a lot of confusion. Because it is a common frequency, if you call close to a border between radio receivers you may be heard by several locations. Over time we have learned which receivers tend to light up close to the borders and we know that if they are the only receivers lighting up, the aircraft may actually be in adjoining airspace. Frequently we wait for a subsequent call, and hope the pilot attaches a location.
Above 14,000 feet or so, an aircraft will hit multiple receivers distorting the receiver. Aircraft in the flight levels will light up receivers across several states. For this reason each Center’s airspace has a discrete frequency for high altitude aircraft. Several pilots have asked me for the chart you see below which shows the Center’s boundaries and the high altitude Flight Watch Frequencies associated with them.
Flight Watch is your best source for current weather all along your route of flight. Do not ask for a preflight briefing for a future flight, they are required to only take current flight requests. Their purpose is to help you maintain a good picture of the weather as it is. If all you call for is to give a pilot report – this is good! That is a key element in establishing the credibility of the NWS forecasts. So the next time you are out flying over west Texas and see a dust storm below – give Flight Watch a call!
On another note, I am interested in hearing from pilots across the nation concerning Remote Airport Advisory services. At this time there are less than 20 airports left in the country that have this service. If you have been to one of them and have used the service, I would like to know your opinion as to its value. Please send an email to the address listed below.
Rose Marie Kern has worked in ATC since 1983. Questions or comments may be sent to author@rosemariekern.com.