Dear Dispatcher

[Lrjet55]

dsptchrNJA,


I appreciate the honest response. We have all been critical of NJA dispatch from time to time so any tool that will make your job and ours a little better I'm sure were all in favor.
As always there will be some growing pains and everyone needs to remember that.

 

[dsptchrnja]

ok examples -
i get released to TEB- twice! we can't even go there!
i get released to a closed airport
flight plan filed for altitude over our capability for weight/temp - by 6000'
flight plan filed directly through a typhoon
crewmembers left off w&b
heavy crew, their bags not accounted for in w&b
atlantic crossing w/no etp's in paperwork
atlantic crossing w/no TMI message - happens frequently
full-power (27k) takeoff but too light for that power setting
illegal alternate filed
no alternate filed

these are some pretty basic things! if i didn't catch them, i'd be doing the BWAY1 arrival.

For the sake of argument, lets say these were all true... What makes you think we have no accountability for our errors? Again, I'm telling you, we do.

i get released to TEB- twice! we can't even go there!

For starters, I know for a fact you have never been released to TEB because the airport doesn't even exist in the Boeing Laptop Tool database. We can't even start a release until it's in there. You may have been "scheduled" to go to TEB. Can't help you there.

i get released to a closed airport

If it was actually NOTAM closed at the time of release (was it?), I can gaurantee you the Dxr was held accountable.

flight plan filed for altitude over our capability for weight/temp - by 6000'

Domestic or International? If domestic and the flight plan ran without errors at time of the release then it was obviously a valid plan. Releasing you 4-6 hours before you even leave, than a add a few hours on top of that leaves a lot of room for the Winds/Temps aloft to change from what they were forecasted. That's part of the reason why we give you so much extra fuel in case it is necessary to go lower.

flight plan filed directly through a typhoon
atlantic crossing w/no etp's in paperwork
atlantic crossing w/no TMI message - happens frequently

Can't help you, Dispatchers are domestic only (+CAN). You have an issue with Jepps IFP, not DX.

(Yes, we all remember the typhoon, and yes, Jepps was held accountable and changes were made as a result. Question also came up as to why the crew got all the way there before they themselves realized they were headed for a typhoon?)

crewmembers left off w&b
heavy crew, their bags not accounted for in w&b
full-power (27k) takeoff but too light for that power setting
illegal alternate filed
no alternate filed

All very basic DX functions using the software and training we are provided with. I'm assuming you discussed all of them with your dispatcher to find out what the problem was. If the dispatcher was negligent I can assure you he/she was held accountable. In fact the BBJ program is is scrutinized more than any other program at NJA. I have personally been held accountable for a larger number of BBJ issues, which make up the smallest percentage of my releases, than all the other programs combined.

 

[dsptchrnja]

Dispatchnja

You're right. the pilots are.

Yes you are, probably more so than the dispatcher. And rightly so. You have been given a greater responsibility.

Don't forget, however, at the beginning of the day we are both putting our license on the line. It is a joint release process just as the FOM stipulates.

Leaky, Tx for example. The FAA investigators didn't just interview the pilots. The release was pulled and the dispatcher was also questioned during the investigation and was held accountable for his part of the flight.

 

[squonk]

dsptchr,

Great info on the previous page! I learned more there than the last three briefs on dispatch in recurrent!

See kids, you can learn on flightinfo.com!

 

[Prog 2/2]

Hey,nineteen, that's Aretha Franklin.



Why is the Dan now "classic rock" ? Seems like I just bought those LP's a couple of weeks ago. Can't mean I'm getting old, can it?

 

[squonk]

Prog, I think we're just showing our age! Still nothing better in my collection than Becker and Fagan.

We have a smooth jazz station here and they will throw some cuts from Aja on every now and again.

 

[bizjet737]

For starters, I know for a fact you have never been released to TEB because the airport doesn't even exist in the Boeing Laptop Tool database. We can't even start a release until it's in there. You may have been "scheduled" to go to TEB. Can't help you there.
/QUOTE]

well she figured out how to do it - her signature was on the release - do, cp, dir of trng all have copies of it.

 

[Lord Wakefield]

BIZJet 737, don't confuse NJDispatcher with the facts. They're not part of the talking points she's operating off of.

 

[DO-82 driver]

Dispatcher....let me ask you something. When someone in CMH releases us illegally and the crew catches it and corrects the problem, do we have a moral obligation to self-disclose?

Has any NJ dispatcher recieved an FAA letter or violation? I know several of the pilots have.

 

[dsptchrnja]

well she figured out how to do it - her signature was on the release - do, cp, dir of trng all have copies of it.

If you say you received a release to TEB then I believe you - the one page release is typed manually and can easily type TEB without doing any of the flight planning. However, the fact that you could not have received any of the BLT performance paperwork for TEB tells me there is much more to the story...

 

[dsptchrnja]

Dispatcher....let me ask you something. When someone in CMH releases us illegally and the crew catches it and corrects the problem, do we have a moral obligation to self-disclose?

Has any NJ dispatcher recieved an FAA letter or violation? I know several of the pilots have.

A dispatcher sends you a conditional release as defined in the FOM. If you receive a release that has a mistake on it you must contact the dispatcher prior to departure and it will be corrected. Once both dispatcher and PIC agree on the conditional release, the pilot signs his copy and it becomes the final release. The dispatcher holds on to his copy for 30 days to comply with the FAA. This is the dual release system and is not only legal, but by design, therefore there is no reason to self-disclose.

Now, if the dispatcher sends a conditional release and it has a mistake on it and the pilot also misses the mistake, completes the trip, and then someone (pilot/dispatcher/ACP/NJA employee) realizes the trip was released in violation of an FAA regulation, then it is the company's moral obligation to self-disclose. I have seen this a number of times in the last 7 years - but never was the crew and/or pilot ever trying to get away with anything, it was always an honest mistake. And nearly every time measures were put into place to try to prevent it from happening again.


The FSDO visits the flight center unannounced quite regularly and pulls a random day of releases in attempt to find violations. Yes, some dispatcher's have been written up. We normally go weeks and months with out violations. This has been a particulary tough week for dispatch. We had two separate violations and 2 different dispatchers were written up. The safety of the flight was not impacted by either mistake. One of the mistakes (MEL non-compliance) resulted in a self-disclosure. The other (W&B issue) was found by the FAA on a recent visit.

In one of the instances that I was familiar with, both pilot and dispatcher, both experienced, had much integrity and accepted responsibility for missing the item that caused the self-disclosure.