Day or Night, you can Count on the Honeywell Forge Flight Services Team

Pilots know it’s important to have a support system in place to ensure every flight is seamless from start to finish. That’s where the Honeywell Forge Flight Services team comes into play.

Comprised of employees who have backgrounds in aviation and flight planning, the Honeywell Forge Flight Services team fields calls from customers encountering a variety of challenges. From flight planning, filing and routing support to weather briefing, message forwarding and problems with websites, the dedicated Honeywell team is available to answer the phones 24-hours a day, seven days a week. 

“The fact that we have a live person to answer calls 24/7 is really important to our customers,” said George Risinger, Duty Manager in the Honeywell Forge Flight Services Operation Center. “We provide best-in-class support in everything we do – from operational support to technical assistance and everything in between. We go above and beyond for our customers. And while competitors try to copy us, they never seem to get it quite right. Customers trust us to make sure all their needs are met. That’s what makes us indispensable.”

Flight Sentinel is Honeywell’s “White Glove” Concierge Service

A key component of the Honeywell Forge service is Flight Sentinel. Using state-of-the-art techniques, Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) tools and extensive experience, the Flight Sentinel team monitors airspace and ATC initiatives to ensure on-time departure and provide pilots with real-time updates. The Flight Sentinel team monitors the aircraft position and flight progress while looking ahead for weather hazards, traffic congestion, ground delays, or any other conditions that may affect a flight.

According to Risinger this service acts like a pilot’s extended flight department. “We are watching everything in the airspace,” he said. “We are tied into the FAA Command Center so whatever happens in the airspace, we know what’s going on. We are even in hourly briefings with the FAA for real-time updates and tactical route selection to avoid disruptions.”

Every Day Brings Exciting New Challenges

For Risinger, every day as a Honeywell Forge Operation Center manager brings exciting challenges. A few months ago, he helped save a customer time and money, thanks to Flight Sentinel.

A Gulfstream V business jet was coming back from Europe and heading to Washington Dulles International Airport. Unfortunately, there was back up in the area and the control tower was decreasing everyone’s altitude to get underneath the commercial aircraft traffic.

Risinger realized if the Gulfstream V did this, the aircraft would burn precious fuel. He suggested the aircraft move west to avoid the congestion. The pilot followed the suggestion and was able to stay at the same altitude most of the flight, dropping down only upon descent into D.C. The flight crew called Risinger to thank him personally, stating they were low on fuel and the rerouting saved them from having to divert into New York airspace. 

“It’s rewarding to get a pat on the back from the customer for an easier flight. One of our goals is to search for less traffic disruption and for ways to save customers fuel, and in-turn money. That’s what this job is all about,” Risinger said. “With Flight Sentinel, if we can save a pilot between 30 minutes and hour of time once every two months, that’s paid for the annual subscription.”