What Are Your Peeves and Problems as a Dispatcher?

Being a new dispatcher, I'm still learning so much. It drives me crazy when I take a pass down only to later find issues that have to then be dealt with last minute or on the fly.

There is a lot of little stuff we have to do for the various customers we have and I'm learning real quick to scour the flights being passed down to me before accepting them. Drives me nuts all the mistakes I come across that have to be fixed.

And I'm the new dispatcher! Seems like it would be the other way around...
 
Rogo said:
When you're on the phone with a pilot who want's to clear an MEL that hasn't been cleared from your system, so you try to patch in MCC. My record is 52 rings right now.
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At least your phone system rings - ours just kind of says - "Nope not today, click".
Im not joking either.
 
Rogo said:
When you're on the phone with a pilot who want's to clear an MEL that hasn't been cleared from your system, so you try to patch in MCC. My record is 52 rings right now.
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No no. My favorite is being on the phone with a pilot who doesnt understand why I wont add or clear an MEL on his word alone. "But I was just here when the mechanic signed it off! Im the Caaaaaaptain!

If MXC hasnt gotten the fax from the mechanic yet, it hasnt happened yet, in our eyes and in the eyes of the FAA. Say a pilot says Oh,well, its MEL ##-##-##-###A and I go ahead and add it to the release...but I later find out that it was ##-##-##-###B...and oh, BTW, A means that the other systems need to be operating...but B means that the flight cant depart into, say, icing conditions and there happen to be thunderstorms enroute, or snow at the arrival station. Well, captain has ALPA to save his tail...I could lose my job, or worse, my license!
 
Oh, and not to mention the potential consequences of taking off into icing conditions with your anti-ice system inop!
 
Krystal said:
No no. My favorite is being on the phone with a pilot who doesnt understand why I wont add or clear an MEL on his word alone. "But I was just here when the mechanic signed it off! Im the Caaaaaaptain!

If MXC hasnt gotten the fax from the mechanic yet, it hasnt happened yet, in our eyes and in the eyes of the FAA. Say a pilot says Oh,well, its MEL ##-##-##-###A and I go ahead and add it to the release...but I later find out that it was ##-##-##-###B...and oh, BTW, A means that the other systems need to be operating...but B means that the flight cant depart into, say, icing conditions and there happen to be thunderstorms enroute, or snow at the arrival station. Well, captain has ALPA to save his tail...I could lose my job, or worse, my license!
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Yep you need to watch that. I am amazed sometimes at pilots. I had one the other day off the gate said he had a "MACH SPD TRIM" msg. He and the dispatcher wanted MEL control number 34 XX XX. Which is for Mach AIRSPEED warning. Not Mach TRIM. I told him that item he has cannot be deferred and to return to the gate. Anyone can make a mistake which is why its always good to get a second opinion if you can.
 
Krystal said:
I really dont have too many gripes but it irks me when pilots wait until 5 minutes before departure to call me and request more fuel.
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Unfortunately you will get pilots that use this as a way to pass responsibility off to you, or put you in a time crunch as a way to "punish" you for your "mistake".

Krystal said:
The other thing that irks me is the Captain that calls into DX half cocked....Calling into DX and launching into a tirade over the phone without even identifying yourself or your flight number is going to get you nowhere and it certainly wont earn you any favors.
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This happens a lot, and it is important to show that you won';t tolerate it AND that you won't let it get to you. Being assertive and being professional by doing your job will often not only make them chill the puck out, but can also make you earn their respect. I've also had many pilots who are condescending, even during check rides, just to be difused by seeing that know my stuff and am genuinely interested in learning how we can work together.

g767 said:
^^ This right here for sure...... I was working at a small A320 airline at the time doing a military charter across the country.
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USA3000 must be tough for transatlantic. It was tough enough dealing with some of that for a large ETOPS widebody. Kudos to you!

g767 said:
^^ Needless to say it went right over his head that he wasn't flying this airlines only airplane :cool:
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That's why I really appreciate people who respect the challenges of other people's job in our industry...especially from pilots. When a pilot shows his respect for me it feels great and I will go out of my way to help them in any way I can.
 
Krystal said:
Ill be sure to tell that to the pilots who call five times to ask why I put on a precautionary alternate.
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You must have some drama queen pilots or bad dispatchers because I'd say MAYBE one flight out of 20 do we have to contact our dispatchers for anything. And our trips are usually logistical nightmares.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Which one of those four stripe eggheads wanted to do that?
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Oh honey, you'd be surprised. Havent dealt with one of those recently, though. The point I was trying to make is just this....there is a reason that we verify all MELs with MX control before we put them on a release. Yet, we catch grief each and EVERY time we tell a captain. "Sure, I can ammend that, I just need to wait for the go-ahead from MX control." We're not trying to tell the pilots we dont trust them....we are just trying to cover our own posteriors.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
You must have some drama queen pilots or bad dispatchers because I'd say MAYBE one flight out of 20 do we have to contact our dispatchers for anything. And our trips are usually logistical nightmares.
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Again, you'd be surprised.

Call 1: "Hey, I see that you put on an alternate but the weather doesnt really need one.'
Me:"Yes, well if you look at the calm winds and a temp/dewpoint spread of 0, its kind of a perfect recipe for fog.
"Oh, ok."

Call 2; "So are you thinking we might have to divert for fog?"
"well, I dont anticipate it but Id like you to have the fuel just in case."
"Oh, ok."

Call 3: "Well since you're anticipting fog, Id like some more hold fuel."
"Sure, how much?"

Call 4: "Do you have a current RVR? I dont want to take off if it looks like we're going to fog in."
*sigh*


I was once told that pilots would never argue to having extra fuel.

And to answer your question, I have, in the past, taken calls from a particular captain that would call and request more fuel.....but not an extra 500 or 1000.... but 100 or 200 lbs...... you read that right. He would call for an extra 100 lbs of fuel.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
I think you guys are reading into stuff that pilots do just a LIL too much.
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We're not talking about all the pilots here. Indeed, I would say probably 95% or more of the pilot group I work with is great and I do have shifts with multiple international flights where I get hardly any calls at all.

That being said, when you get calls for things that have nothing to do with dispatch, or matters that are completely out of our control (such as one time when I was screamed at by a captain because tech pubs hadn't delivered the latest enroute charts to PHNL) you do feel like venting.
 
manniax said:
We're not talking about all the pilots here. Indeed, I would say probably 95% or more of the pilot group I work with is great and I do have shifts with multiple international flights where I get hardly any calls at all.

That being said, when you get calls for things that have nothing to do with dispatch, or matters that are completely out of our control (such as one time when I was screamed at by a captain because tech pubs hadn't delivered the latest enroute charts to PHNL) you do feel like venting.
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Precisely. 95% of my pilots are great. Most of the pilots at my company are absolute gems. They work their tails off and never complain. Its the other 5% that can take an otherwise quiet night and turn it into a complete freak show!
 
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