FAA seems to encourage self weather/pre flight briefings

I've been places this year in the East where all I had was a land line. Be a real pity if the phone number went away completely. Easy enough to punt all the calls to one place. That said, I didn't even know until recently that I could get a briefing somewhere other than the phone or DUATS (which I did once and decided it was useless). Haven't tried the Leidos app, don't think I need to. If I can't get Foreflight I can't get Leidos.

Of course, all this involves a "legal" briefing, which just means you can prove you got it. A pity the FAA won't take our word for it.
 
apr911 said:
Calling the briefer an "experienced professional who looks at and interprets the sky for a living" is probably a stretch. Dont get me wrong, there are varying levels of proficiency and knowledge but these guys aren't necessarily hired on the basis of their weather knowledge. Maybe it was true at one point in time but today, most of them are simply reading back the same information that is available to you directly.
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This.

When I leaned to fly (1970s), briefers were local, and interpreted forecasts in light of their local knowledge. Now you call for a brief and likely as not get some guy 2000 miles away who has to look up your airport ID to know what part of the country you're calling from. The few times I've actually called a briefer in the past 10 years they've never given me anything that wasn't much more clear from looking at the online graphics. The only exception was a confusing patchwork of presidental TFRs in an area I was passing through; I called just to make sure I understood the schedule correctly. I did, and was out of the area before the start of the TFR, though it didn't stop me from getting accosted by two Secret Service agents who were visiting all local airports to make sure pilots knew about the TFRs.

For 95% of my local flights I don't even get a briefing. If the weather looks good and pilots are flying at my home field I figure I'm good. Though I do sometimes check the FAA's graphical TFR site... even though they say it's not "official"...
 
I’m still chuckling at the title. I’ve always done all of my own briefings. :)
 
I've got a meteorology degree and do the stuff for a living, other than TFR's and MOA info I'm likely to be at least as knowledgeable as the briefer on the wx stuff. And honestly if I'm flying VFR day I don't need him wasting both of our time briefing me on the NOTAM about the burned out taxiway sign lights and the ILS that's out. But I know an old timer who won't even do pattern work without a briefing. To each his own.
 
Walboy said:
True...but there's a persistent myth that you MUST talk with a briefer to have a "legal" briefing. The FAA is clearly stating in this email that a live briefing is NOT required to fulfill 91.103. Not everyone is as well informed as a lot of the posters here at POA. So yeah, I guess some folks live under a rock.
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Don't knock it till you try it. :)

rock.jpg
 
I’m surprised they still have that service, they got rid of hiwas, duats, flightwatch....
 
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