Don't Swear at Crew Scheduling

[Mr Wu]

BINGO!!! I've been harping on that for years! You know what their response is? The company would have to pay the pilots for their time and it's not a requirement of the FAA nor their collective bargaining agreement.

However there are a small few who do come sit with me for a portion of the shift. Those that have observed have a a huge respect for our job.

My previous life included a short stint as a crew scheduler. We were NEVER allowed to call crews on rest. Additionally, you need to have respect to get respect.

I don't have a problem sitting in and watching what your job entails but if I have to do it, do I then get to pick what days and flights you do your yearly fam rides? I've never seen a dispatcher on a flight longer than 90 mins and the weather has always been CAVU.

 

[WarnerNo13]

I don't have a problem sitting in and watching what your job entails but if I have to do it, do I then get to pick what days and flights you do your yearly fam rides? I've never seen a dispatcher on a flight longer than 90 mins and the weather has always been CAVU.

There's always a reason why pilots have it worse than anyone else, so this is a familiar theme. Who said a fam ride has to have deadly tornadoes and has to be 5 hours one way? The point is to OBSERVE how a pilot works to apply that knowledge back at the office and learn to make better decisions since joint authority applies to every flight. If a dispatcher has a 30 year career, they've spent a few days in the cockpit. How long did you spend in dispatch educating yourself on how to work better with operations control and your local neighborhood 'spatcher?

If you want to use the the woe-is-me approach, how about I get to pick which of my 70 flights that day I get to be responsible for?

 

[WalterSobchak]

Tristar, I think we are definitely on the same page. I shouldn't throw the "overinflated sense of self-importance" around, but we all know those kinds exist. I was exaggerating a bit. Apologies if you felt that was directed at you, personally. It was not.

I don't have a problem sitting in and watching what your job entails but if I have to do it, do I then get to pick what days and flights you do your yearly fam rides? I've never seen a dispatcher on a flight longer than 90 mins and the weather has always been CAVU.

I go out of my way to find crappy weather observation rides. However, in my case, it is hard to find one when you're dealing with weight-restricted CRJ's. You take what you can get. I do try to at least go to our more restrictive airports like KASE, KSUN, KJAC, etc. when possible. I'll never forget my CAT II ride into KATL, nor will I forget the opportunity I had to fly the CRJ sim in/out of some of our toughest airports...not to mention my commute on F9 into a stormy KDFW. Those flights changed the way I dispatch flights...which is exactly the point of observation.

Fair enough--multiple "crosses to bear" makes sense.

For what it's worth, folks, this is one of the more instructive and CERTAINLY one of the most civil discussions found on FI.

Thanks for redeeming the site!

Thanks for the kind words.

With all due respect to the pilots on the forum, I think the civility found in the dispatch section is just a byproduct the nature of our jobs. In our careers, we are all expected to see and understand the big-picture in addition to the details...as opposed to the "single mission" mindset of a pilot (which is exactly the mindset a pilot should have). I think that typically results in a carry-over of that mindset to our everyday lives and into our message boards. The Dispatch Community is a small one...and we're almost all willing to help people better understand what we do and why we do it.

well it did take two moderator/dispatchers to make that happen.. see we can get along..

Speaking of...what happened to PullToGuns?