To 121 pilots from a dispatcher...

[~~~^~~~]

After all, when I build a specific reroute for TSRA, you take a center offered direct right into the line of level 5, and then call us asking where's it clear....

Nailed me with that one

I always bite on "Cleared Direct" and "Keep your speed up." At least I have not diverted into AYS, yet.

 

[atrdriver]

No argument here, you are the final say in what happens to that aircraft once it leave the ground!....BUT, don’t think your licenses is the only one to be sacrificed in the end.....not true!

Correction. I am the final authority on what happens to that aircraft as long as my happy a$$ is sitting in the seat, in the air OR on the ground. When one of my decisions is overturned by whoever I get off and they can get someone else to fly it.

 

[rumpletumbler]

And don't call me because you forgot your ankle bracelet in the hotel room, and HAVE to have it back.

Last night I got a this call:

f/a : I'm in the crew lot, and my car is stuck in the snow. I need someone to dig me out.

Me: Did you try rocking your car back and forth to get it out?

f/a: No, I'll try it and give you a call back in 5 minutes.

Never heard back.

From your response I deduce that she is ugly.

 

[dispatchguy]

Unfortunately, however, even if she was hott as he11, he cant leave his post per 121;

"... shall remain on continuous duty while flights are in progress." I doubt the FSDO would take it kindly if he was out digging Sweets out of the parking lot when a flight needs assistance NOW..., or worse yet, when a Fed decides to poke his nose around the dispatch office...

 

[rumpletumbler]

Unfortunately, however, even if she was hott as he11, he cant leave his post per 121;

"... shall remain on continuous duty while flights are in progress." I doubt the FSDO would take it kindly if he was out digging Sweets out of the parking lot when a flight needs assistance NOW..., or worse yet, when a Fed decides to poke his nose around the dispatch office...

Oh...

 

[rvsm410]

Touchy.....spoken like a true teammate...

Correction. I am the final authority on what happens to that aircraft as long as my happy a$$ is sitting in the seat, in the air OR on the ground. When one of my decisions is overturned by whoever I get off and they can get someone else to fly it.

Ok, sure on the ground as well, but you will be taxing around all night if I cancel that release before you start the t/o roll!....lets not forget, if we give you direction while enroute, and you decide too ignor the changes, then you do so under emergency authority and all the paperwork and reports that come with that senerio....

It's obvious by your tone that have little use or respect for your dispatchers, I still say both should work together, more importantly the REGs state that you will, like it or not, it's kind of up to you to make it a pleasant relationship or not.

 

[atrdriver]

It's obvious by your tone that have little use or respect for your dispatchers, I still say both should work together, more importantly the REGs state that you will, like it or not, it's kind of up to you to make it a pleasant relationship or not.

No, I actually have a lot of respect for the dispatchers, at least those who attempt to do a good job. I have, however, had dispatchers who have attempted to send me into tornado warnings, gale force winds, severe turbulance, and severe icing. For every "bad" dispatcher there are probably several "good" ones. What I think a lot of dispatchers forget is that it is us who is flying into that weather, or watching the fuel gauges drop, or whatever. My company has a lot of what I would consider to be "very good" dispatchers, and while I respect their opinions, it is my life and that of my crew and passengers in the aircraft. All that having been said, regardless of what any PIC thinks of their dispatchers, the airplane still belongs to the PIC as long as he is on it, regardless of it's position.

 

[dispatchguy]

I think the quality of DX has to do with the quality of their training, especially in their first dispatch job. I wanted a DX job for years, and I finally got the ticket and got one about 6 months later. When I trained, and was signed off, our flight planning system, Bornemann, is SO complex, and the training on it was soooo sparse, I didnt know what I didnt know. My very first DX competency check was do a release, answer like 5 questions (after a written exam), done deal.

Now that I've been an ATS (air transportation supervisor / dispatch check airman), and know the flight planning system very well, and its pitfalls, the last comp check I was like 6-8 hours in length, because I train not just the standard stuff (this is how to create a release under standard circumstances), but all those nice-to-know hows when I was in my first DX gig, that I didnt know, and didnt know I didnt know. If you feel more comfortable with the computer system (and its what youre working with daily), you'll be a better dispatcher. 50% of this job is self-confidence in your own decisions, if you dont know how to operate the system that you use daily, especially when it deviates from the norm, you'll do stupid stuff...

Another thing, especially with the regionals, is that youre staffed and paid like youre working 100 mile flights between South Bend and Chicago; you'll work 60-70 releases a shift, and when the fit hits the shan, you'll be so busy you'll forget your own name; those are the days I want a pilot to sit with me; not when its severe VFR over the entire airline system.

In the draft Dispatch Operations Manual I wrote for my last airline, the very first thing in the Dispatch Policies chapter was a recitation of FAR 91.3. I'm sure I've made a mistake here and there, but I wanted to be the DX that the crews respected and wanted to work with; not the one that they feared; who couldnt dispatch on a VFR day to save their life...

 

[atrdriver]

In the draft Dispatch Operations Manual I wrote for my last airline, the very first thing in the Dispatch Policies chapter was a recitation of FAR 91.3. I'm sure I've made a mistake here and there, but I wanted to be the DX that the crews respected and wanted to work with; not the one that they feared; who couldnt dispatch on a VFR day to save their life...

And that's the kind of dispatcher that I have respect for.

 

[rvsm410]

And that's the kind of dispatcher that I have respect for.

Me too...I hoope to aspire to that level every time I cut a release, I do it as if I were the guy flying the trip...

And by the way, Dispatchguy was right on on his last post....good job DS!