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Job Title:

Flight Service Station Manager

Related Job Title:

Flight Service Station Director, Flight Weather Briefer

Job Description:

This position is found at each area's Flight Service Station which are maintained by the FAA. A Flight Service Station provides private pilots with the current and forecasted weather data and information they need to plan and make a safe flight. Private pilots call or stop in at the Flight Service Station in their area to update their weather information, submit their flight plan or gather pertinent flight information. As a manager, the primary work deals with supervising the employees (briefers, controllers, meteorologists) working under you. This means dealing with people-related issues and performance evaluation. You must be completely knowledgeable in the work being done by all you employees as well as in techniques that motivate employees to the highest performance standards. Employees at the Flight Service Stations must gather weather information and data for the area in which they service, and be able to communicate that weather data, suggested routes and terrain details to pilots who call or come in. The work is quite varied and would also require radar scope monitoring, radio communications with private pilots, flight planning assistance as well as the weather data gathering and dissemination.

Areas of Expertise:

• Human resources management
• Weather data research and information gathering
• Knowledge of weather charts, graphs and maps
• Flight planning and aeronautical chart reading

Interest and Abilities:

• Reading weather maps and charts is interesting
• Enjoy interacting with people and providing them useful information
• Understand how to motivate people to work as a team.
• Understand how to motivate people toward self-improvement
• Weather phenomena and its effects on flight
• Love of aviation and flight
• Able to read aeronautical charts
• Excellent verbal skills and ability to provide clear, concise directions

Suggested subjects to study in school:

• Physics
• Aeronautics or the science of flight
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Meteorology
• Geography and mapping
• Speech
• Interpersonal communications

Education and Training Needed:

• 4-year degree program before ATC training
• Pass an FAA aptitude test
• Air Traffic Control Training through the FAA
• Management training courses

You might want to further explore this career by checking out the web sites given below:

What can I do right now?
Join a group like the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and participate in their activities.
Learn how to read all types of geographical maps, aeronautical charts and weather maps and charts.
Take a ground school course.
Get work experience where you have to deal with the public over the phone.
Review a preparation book for becoming an air traffic controller.
Volunteer to work at a Flight Service Station to get an idea of what the work is like.
View the NASA/FAA CD-ROM Gate to Gate to learn more about the air traffic management system.
Visit a flight service station near where you live.

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