Q>About flight dispatcher

[Low 0]

Hello! May i ask what flight dispatcher actually responsible in, to do and not to dos, and knowledge that a dispatcher should have, including responsibilities, anything.

[Y C LEONG 1]

i am sure someone here can tell u more but some of the resposibilities include,

 

1 - weight n balance

 

2 - fuel calculation

 

3 - printing flight plan

 

4 - prepare metar report

 

etc..

[Hakan 2]

I asked your question to my one the best friends who is working as licenced dispatcher in a Turkish airline company (sky airlines).

 

Here you are your answer from a proffessional;

 

"Simply everything about flight operations"

 

A dispatcher is responsible for "safe" conduction of a flight , this covers finding the best route accoring to weather conditions , fuel economy , time issues and company procedures . To do his/her job he has to read all related notams (both airports and FIR notams) , check the weather and forecasts for destination - possible alternate(s) - enroute airports , check upper air weather status for turbulance and wind issues (also for volcanic ash / radioactive clouds etc. if nessecary) .

 

When he decides his routing and alternate for a flight , he then checks the aircraft performance and fuel economy issues to be sure about his decisions , and meanwhile he always considers the company schedule , crew duty times and passenger comfort along the flight .

 

In any case where his decisions are wrong or not perfect he starts over to find the best suitable solution .

 

He does not fix an aircraft like a technician but he considers the acceptable faults , the possibilites of flight with a faulty part ... He does not fly the aircraft but he has to put himself to the pilot seat while planning and preparing a flight ... He does not directly deal with the passengers like an operation supervisor but he has to think the loading-unloading phases of the flight and consider all possibilites in real time .

 

Simply he is the invisible man of a flight , you can not see him easily but be sure , he is always there

 

A Dispatcher must know nearly the same subjects like an commercial airliner pilot , the main difference is pilots take seperate exams for each subject (like Aircraft Performance , Rules Of The Air , Meteorology etc.) dispatcher take all the subjects mixed up in an exam Of course the level of the questions differ from each other but we use the same books for studying ...

 

Rules Of The Air , Principles Of Flight , Aircraft General Knowledge , Aircraft Specific Knowledge , Meteorology , Radio Telephony are the main subjects come to mind at first thought .

 

A dispatcher shares %50 responsibility of every flight he dispatches ... After the planning phase he is the last man to decide to do that flight , if he is sure that that flight can be done in a safe manner he signs the computer generated flight plan (and/or the Dispatch Release Form) then he waits the crew to come to the briefing room . After that moment he briefs the captain about that flight and decisions he made .

 

If the captain is sure also he then signs the flight plan (or the form) so the flight can start ... If one of the parties are not sure about the safetly of that flight the form/flight plan must not be signed , everything must be considered and maybe planned again for safety .

 

Most of the time if a captain sees the sign of a dispatcher in his flight plan he does not think every aspect of that flight 'cause he knows that the invisible man worked for him , and if the dispatcher is good/reliable/thrustable he only checks the documents to be sure about everything in a short time and signs his part with a clean mind .

 

A pilot thinks about "only" his flight (maybe the next one after him a little bit) but a dispatcher deals with several flights at his shift , and as expected our job does not ends with the briefing ... If continues with the "Flight Watch" section after planning , we take all nessecary actions to avoid possible delays and/or problems while the aircraft is flying .

 

A simple list from a training school's advertisement ;

 

Flight and Aircraft Dispatchers: Day-to-Day Duties

 

-Performing the pre-flight duties as the cabin crew prepare for the flight

-Providing the pilot with the advised route for an individual flight

-Assessing weather reports and informing the pilot of any hazards

-Making checks on aircraft maintenance issues

-Reviewing aircraft weight, fuel loads and cargo loads.

-flight planning/fuel planning

-General duties to ensure the aircraft is safe and ready to fly

-Reporting to air traffic control and airport staff about departure times, and after departure, providing reports

on aircraft status and predicted arrival times.

-Finally, it's worth considering whether this job is the right career choice for you it involves a lot of pressure, as you are essentially the lead communicator regarding a flight's activities. Therefore, you'll need to have excellent communication skills, a high attention to detail, strong judgement and a willingness to work flexible hours to get the most out of this rewarding career.

As the last item describes this job involves a lot of stress , if you love (really love) aviation and this kind of pressure/responsibilities in your life it will the best job for you If not be sure this will be the worst nightmare you'll have ever had .

 

For more "official" details FAA's regulations (and or JAA , EASA) can be read but they are for aviation professionals so the terms used there will be a little bit confusing ...

 

Best wishes

 

 

Fatih KOZ

 

 

Airline Flight Dispatcher

TR-D-0563

 

 

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Edited March 30, 2011 by Hakan

[Fatih KOZ 0]

"3- Printing flight plan"

 

This must be "preparing" the flight plan 'cause printing is only one click but preparing takes time also in some cases we do not print it ... We can just send it to the FMS of an aircraft directly without printing it to paper if required (and approved by the company)

 

I assume in near future "printing" will be a historic event , we will put everyting on digital systems and all will be read by aircraft computers (also ATC computers) and the pilots will only need to touch a screen to turn the pages

 

"4 - prepare metar report"

 

This is just a part of our job and actually we do not prepare any metar/taf reports ... We read and study the reports prepared/published by the authorities , take nessecary actions like delaying and/or cancelling flights , finding other alternates , changing routes etc. For long flights we mainly focus on TAF reports (published every 6 hours normally) and SIGMETS, but for short ones we continously check METAR and SPECI reports (METAR published every 30 minutes, SPECI published anytime needed)

 

For a recent example I simply delayed a flight nearly 45 minutes due to destination aerodromes weather conditions after the first leg . A/C departed from base aerodrome , landed to destination on time and then waited for next departure , when I see that the METAR and SPECI reports show a good trend at planned second destination we (me and captain) calculated our estimated arrival to destination and decided to start the second leg After a short flight (1 hours aprx.) they landed to their second destination safely .

 

If you have any more questions about our profession and duties do not hesitate to ask ... It will be a great pleasure for me to answer .

[Y C LEONG 1]

"3- Printing flight plan"

 

I assume in near future "printing" will be a historic event , we will put everyting on digital systems and all will be read by aircraft computers (also ATC computers) and the pilots will only need to touch a screen to turn the pages

 

"4 - prepare metar report"

 

This is just a part of our job and actually we do not prepare any metar/taf reports ... We read and study the reports prepared/published by the authorities , take nessecary actions like delaying and/or cancelling flights , finding other alternates , changing routes etc. For long flights we mainly focus on TAF reports (published every 6 hours normally) and SIGMETS, but for short ones we continously check METAR and SPECI reports (METAR published every 30 minutes, SPECI published anytime needed)

 

 

 

Thanks for your elaboration on me points.. as i used to work side by side with dispatchers in LCY, we still used the old method of printing the flight plan and metar reports to pilots of BAE146 & Fokkers... lol... i am sure now with the increased E175/190s op into that airport, tech printers are not an issue anymore to them.. lol

[Low 0]

Thanks guys,thats just what i wanted to know. Appreciate it. Sounds interesting and challenging the job.

[thedang 0]

Sometimes it became haywire when it comes to typhoon, volcanic ashes and so on. Have to think of deviation or reroute but in the same time the flight must be safe, legal and of course on time.