FSDO customer service rant

[Fearless Tower]

Call a FSDO. Ask a moderately tough FAA policy question. Then call another one, in another part of the country. If, after five calls, you have less than three distinct answers, you are a lucky person. They couldn't find their a** with both hands and a road map.

Heck, different groups within FAA don't talk to each other; they run fiefdoms, using NIH and risk avoidance to prevent progress. Not to be specific, and muck-up someone's now on-going effort, but a non-FAA stakeholder group has had to explain to one FAA group what another FAA entity was doing. . .

If you think the FAA is bad, you should try dealing with the Coast Guard.

One of the more lost and confused federal organizations. And they carry guns!

 

[dillardrg]

I moved to the Nashville area a year and half ago. The Nashville FSDO is the first one that I have dealt with in my 53 years of flying that actually answer their phones.
In every other part of the country, most recently St Louis and Louisville, when I call I get a generic message saying leave a message. I may or may not get a return call.

When I first called the Nashville FSDO using a discrete number from their website for an inspector he actually answered.

I have since called multiple times and if the inspector I am trying to reach is out of the office there is a specific message stating why the phone was not answered and when to expect the inspector back in the office. All my message calls were answered on the date expected.

The individual inspectors have been very pleasant and extremely helpful, in one case saving me a lot of time and expense.

The Nashville FSDO will probably get in trouble for this level of customer service.

 

[ARFlyer]

I moved to the Nashville area a year and half ago. The Nashville FSDO is the first one that I have dealt with in my 53 years of flying that actually answer their phones.
In every other part of the country, most recently St Louis and Louisville, when I call I get a generic message saying leave a message. I may or may not get a return call.

When I first called the Nashville FSDO using a discrete number from their website for an inspector he actually answered.

I have since called multiple times and if the inspector I am trying to reach is out of the office there is a specific message stating why the phone was not answered and when to expect the inspector back in the office. All my message calls were answered on the date expected.

The individual inspectors have been very pleasant and extremely helpful, in one case saving me a lot of time and expense.

The Nashville FSDO will probably get in trouble for this level of customer service.

The Little Rock FSDO is also very customer orientated. Every time I've need to call or email I get a reply within 24hr, if not sooner. We also have a really great FAAST team.