Is this schedule crazy?

[bcp7]

Dispatch guy, you're correct for Par 121.465 for Domestic or Flag dispatchers, but there are no duty time limitations for Flight Followers under Part 121 Supplemental rules.

 

[bcp7]

I currently show up for my shift at 4 am and get off at 2. On this current schedule I am barely getting 6 hours of sleep a night. By day 4 I'm ready to drop. When you're married, and your wife doesn't get him until 6:30pm...

Get a nap in between the time you get home from work, and the time your wife gets home. Depending on your commute to and from work, you should be able to get a couple of hours sleep.

 

[hoover]

Yes, your schedule is crazy. It's exactly the same schedule I had at Air Wisconsin, which is why I left. (the airline and the profession). The problem is that management refuses to acknowledge human factors in aviation. The hours between 2 and 3AM, in the circadium rythym are when people are typically in their deepest and most restful sleep, were the hours I spent waking up and getting ready for work. I was dead-tired exhausted for a solid year. Unfortunately, for better or worse, this is what the job is. With seniority things get a little better, but not much. Make your decision.

 

[hoover]

I ended up working a 20 hour day! No, I didnt pitch a bitch about a 10hr max violation, for I did see it as an emergency situation, and the shortage was not foreseeable; it wasnt like the PM shift was uncovered and I got juniored for it; for if that had happened, I probably wouldve told them to go pound sand. Thankfully the weather in the entire system was hard VFR, and the airplanes were all cooperating, ATC was playing nice, the crews werent calling in sick (plus, it did make me look like a savior to the front office shmoes)

The situation you describe was not an emergency. An emergency is where you are at or over your 10 hour limit, and you still have planes in the air (say, due to ATC holds and reroutes while enroute). Every airplane has to land, but not a single one HAS to take off. FARs say an airplane cannot take off if that crew is not legal to finish the fight (Whitlow interpretation I believe). I see no reason why that should be any different for dispatchers. If that airplane cannot be on the ground by the end of your 10 hour shift, then it cannot be released.

 

[alpine1989]

The situation you describe was not an emergency. An emergency is where you are at or over your 10 hour limit, and you still have planes in the air (say, due to ATC holds and reroutes while enroute). Every airplane has to land, but not a single one HAS to take off. FARs say an airplane cannot take off if that crew is not legal to finish the fight (Whitlow interpretation I believe). I see no reason why that should be any different for dispatchers. If that airplane cannot be on the ground by the end of your 10 hour shift, then it cannot be released.

The reg states that a Dispatcher can not be Scheduled over 10 hours. We routinely work 8+8 hour double shifts. The FAA dances around this one and has never ruled that extending beyond 10 hours for a sick call busts the reg.

 

[SKC]

An emergency is where you are at or over your 10 hour limit, and you still have planes in the air (say, due to ATC holds and reroutes while enroute).

Surely you're not serious. [I am serious and don't call me Shirley. sorry just had to]

An emergency is where you are AT your 10 hr limit? How many dispatch initiated emergencies have you declared when that 10th hour struck? I'm sure your company loves you.

 

[bcp7]

The reg states that a Dispatcher can not be Scheduled over 10 hours. We routinely work 8+8 hour double shifts. The FAA dances around this one and has never ruled that extending beyond 10 hours for a sick call busts the reg.

Where do you work?

I would say your carrier has poor management in the Dispatch area, resulting in insufficient staffing and poor scheduling.

In 9 years as a Part 121 Dispatcher under Domestic or Flag Rules, I have never had to work a shift in longer than ten hours. I have worked an 8 hour shift, taken 8 hours rest and worked another 8 hour shift. It is a question of management and manpower. None of these airlines had more than 10 dispatchers working the desk.

 

[dispatchguy]

Well - I have heard of dispatchers doing doubles like that in an 8+8 fashion.

Work the first 8 hours as a dispatcher cranking releases and working a desk.
Work the 2nd 8 hours as an ATC coordinator (their internal requirements for the position requires the ADX certificate, however, since they arent "exercising their certificate" the el Federale says thats ok.

And this is a union shop that this happens in; happens all the time.

 

[dispatchguy]

I have worked an 8 hour shift, taken 8 hours rest and worked another 8 hour shift.

Nothing I hate more than a quickturn. I know its legal, but I feel as alive as a cadaver that 2nd shift, and my body clock feels like its been hit with a truck. I actually feel just like a warm body on the desk - hopefully is VFR systemwide...

Now with my multiple sclerosis, I wonder how a quick turn would go now; hopefully I wont have to find out...

 

[Starbuck]

Are you working for ASA ? if so no problem most OCS operate on that schedule.