A Look Inside Alaska Flight Service
“Service” is the middle name of all Flight Service Stations in Alaska, and Flight Service manager Christopher Henne discusses why the specialists operating them are so critical to the efficient flow of air traffic in the national airspace.
By Stephen Custer, FAA Office of Communications
FAA Flight Service turns 100 years old on Aug. 20, 2020. The then-Post Office Department once established airmail radio stations to deliver updated weather information to pilots using Morse code and Navy spark transmitters. Since then, Flight Service has undergone significant transformations that are essential to the safety of the national airspace system (NAS).
Today, Christopher Henne is one of many people leading Flight Service forward. As manager of Flight Service Safety and Operations Policy, Henne leads the Alaska Flight Service Initiative (AFSI), which works to integrate new technologies to improve operations.
While only two Flight Service stations remain in the continental United States, 17 are still in operation in Alaska, a testament to the importance of Flight Service in an area where communications and technological obstacles abound.
“We provide a crucial service, a safety service to general aviation pilots to help them navigate the NAS safely,” Henne said. “We continue that role by providing weather and aeronautical information they need to make safe flight decisions. We’re like a help desk. Pilots call us when they can’t solve a problem or when they need assistance.”
In the late 1970s, Henne’s neighbor and mentor introduced him to Flight Service when he was a young boy in Tennessee. Henne’s neighbor took him to airshows and explained how specialists direct air traffic from a field office. An FAA employee since 1991, Henne has witnessed some of Flight Service’s key transformations.
“The biggest change we’ve seen,” he said, “is pilots going to automation using iPads and the internet, and stakeholders using technology to gather information.”
The potential to obtain a weather briefing, file a flight plan and activate and close a visual-flight-rule plan completely online gives pilots in the continental United States the ability to obtain information and adjust flights to reach their destinations more efficiently and safely. However, due to the lack of internet capabilities and a shortage of cellphone towers, improvements of this kind have yet to emerge in Alaska.
Henne and the AFSI team are seeking a solution.
“In Alaska and outlying facilities, internet is a problem,” Henne said. “Soon, they’re projected to have satellite internet and when it is established, we would like to take advantage of this technology. The possibility to communicate with pilots anywhere in Alaska would be a huge safety gain for general aviation.”
“The vision for Flight Service is not something you do alone,” Flight Service Director Steven Villanueva said. “Chris is working collaboratively with our many stakeholders to develop a strategy that will continue to safely meet our users’ needs and take advantage of new technologies.”
The Weather Camera Program, which recently moved to Flight Service, is one way Alaska Flight Service has used technology to advance safety.
Since the program began in 2007, the number of weather-related aviation accidents in Alaska has declined. Earlier this year, the program expanded to Colorado with 13 new cameras.
Henne and the AFSI team understand the need to move forward and avoid complacency.
“It’s why I feel it’s so important to modernize Flight Service in Alaska today,” he said. “If we don’t modernize and put our head in the sand, it may cause problems down the road.”
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Flight Service and the creation of what has become the modern FAA, providing safety and air traffic flow in the NAS. Learn more about Alaska, modernization initiatives, and the 100-year history of Flight Service.
