FAA plans to shut down RCO network, seeks feedback

AOPA, however, emphasizes that many pilots and aircraft are not yet equipped to operate safely without the network, suggesting the plan for a complete shutdown is premature.

For more than 40 years, general aviation pilots have used the RCO network to request advisories, and solicit other services, from flight service stations, particularly in areas where radio coverage is otherwise limited. The system provides a convenient way to receive updates on weather, notams, TFRs, and other information that helps pilots maintain situational awareness and avoid conflicts. For people who learned to fly during the 1980s and 1990s, RCOs tended to be a major part of the curriculum.

Flash forward to the present day, with mobile technology supplying most, if not all, of the information that pilots need to plan and execute safe flights, and the RCO network might seem quaint. Indeed, according to the FAA, utilization of the system has decreased sharply over the years.

In its notice of intent, published in the Federal Register, the agency wrote, “In the mid-1980s, Flight Service received 22,000 service requests per day across this network, while today they receive fewer than 300 per day. In turn, from over 350 Flight Service stations with over 3,000 employees 40 years ago, there are now only two (2) facilities with fewer than 200 specialists.”

In 2017, the FAA decommissioned 404 RCOs and 237 VHF omnidirectional radio range navaid outlets for a cost savings the agency estimated at $2.5 million in annual maintenance costs. Under the latest plan the FAA would close the remaining 936 RCOs in the continental United States, saving around $16 million.

The FAA said the 99-percent decrease in requests via RCO does not reflect a reduction in the number of flights, but the ability of pilots to receive the same information and services that the RCOs provide without using radio communications. It is easy for many contemporary pilots to name the instruments, devices, and online services that have, collectively, supplanted the enroute radio call to flight service as well as the phone call from the airport prior to departure, which also feels old-fashioned today.

Pilots also know that many aircraft continue to operate with legacy avionics that are limited in their ability to receive in-flight information compared with the latest cockpit equipment—and even many modern cockpits lack the ability to contact flight service from the air, absent VHF radio. As a result, AOPA’s main concern is the potentially adverse effect on aviation safety resulting from a shutdown of the RCO network. While GA is adapting, not all parts of the community are ready for such a change, AOPA said.

“A phased reduction of the network under which services meet current demand would be a preferable alternative,” said Jim McClay, AOPA’s director of airspace, air traffic, and security.

The FAA said written comments should be submitted by May 27. AOPA will share its comments on the RCO plan with the FAA and encourages members to do the same.