Lessons learned...

womanpilot73

womanpilot73

Well-Known Member
Hey ya'll... It's been rather quiet in here the last week so I thought it would be a good time to pick your brains ;-)

To date, what has been your most difficult/memorable/unexpected situation you've experienced at work, and how did you deal with it? What did you learn?

Though I've gotten some experience now, I still have a lot to learn and would appreciate any and all advice you have to offer in dealing with the unexpected.

Thanks :)
 
Saw a fellow dispatcher overfuel a 747 by so much that we had to defuel to fly out, and it cost the company millions. Saw a accident and the aftermath up close. Lessons learned -- 1. there is a very good reason for every SOP. 2. shiat actually happens.
...Edited to emphasise I'm not a veteran.
 
1. Had a Captain call me one late night with an engine out, not a big deal as it was a DC8 but he was missing the particular performance chart he needed in the AFM so guess who had to look up the chart, interpret it and give the info via arinc? Fortunate for me, it wasn't a run around chart (hate those damn things) but lesson learned, every once in a while, go over the performance charts and familiarize how to use them

2. During idle time, I always invent scenarios in my mind that might occur with a current flight and go over how I would respond or what would need to be done. Weather down, mechanical diversion from current position, alternate down/unavailable, security issues....the possibilities are endless and can help you be better prepared.
 
I suppose I shouldn't have said "veterans", as I'm sure some newbies have had some significant learning experiences as well.

All experience levels are encouraged to contribute here... I know I'm not the only one who could learn a thing or two from this thread ;-)
 
No_Se said:
1. Had a Captain call me one late night with an engine out, not a big deal as it was a DC8 but he was missing the particular performance chart he needed in the AFM so guess who had to look up the chart, interpret it and give the info via arinc? Fortunate for me, it wasn't a run around chart (hate those damn things) but lesson learned, every once in a while, go over the performance charts and familiarize how to use them
Click to expand...

Does/did it seem odd that the crew was missing manufacturer performance charts on board the aircraft?

Those charts make my eyes go crossed, and are definitely an area I could devote some more time to becoming more proficient at reading/interpreting.
 
I'm not a dispatcher but I can tell you that your most challenging situations will come when you least expect them, the answers will not be in some book and there will be no one around to help you make the decision. I'm guessing that much like flying, the stuff you do everyday is pretty routine. It's the one thing that you never considered or thought about that will catch you off guard some day and you will have to dig deep to find answers, if there are any. Ultimately, you just have to do the best you can with the resources that you have and the wisdom that you possess. Never let "what will it cost the company" or "will it make my boss happy" issues cloud what you truly feel is the right thing to do.

Sorry to stop by unannounced.
 
womanpilot73 said:
Does/did it seem odd that the crew was missing manufacturer performance charts on board the aircraft?

Those charts make my eyes go crossed, and are definitely an area I could devote some more time to becoming more proficient at reading/interpreting.
Click to expand...

With that particuliar outfit, no that wasnt odd at all...if fact that was one of the more normal problems. One night a captain calls and says " Well, we're in Shannon, why did you divert us"? After several seconds of prcoess time, I told him I didn't "Divert You", you're suppose to be in Gatwick, the airport I released you". Well it turns out the owner of the airline called Berna Radio (not sure if they're still around) and diverted them to Shannon as he had a possible buyer for the plane in Shannon.....Ain't Supplemental neat....so much for Operational Control.
 
womanpilot73 said:
No PJ... Just trying to learn from the veterans here!
Click to expand...

Heh.. Okay, forgot text has no inflection again, by fault. Was trying to be silly.

Anyway, I'll play.

This was back when I was dispatching BAe-146's into Aspen from Denver. Typical Denver weather, clear, dry as a bone. ASE was forecasting clear and a million with the occasional snow squall blowing through, do I carried DEN as the alternate and away we went. Got to ASE and missed so back to DEN we go. Now, this is over the rockpile and radio coverage sucks. No ACARS, so I get him on company radio and let him know that DEN is still fantastic. In the 40 minutes it takes him to get to DEN things started to get, ummm, Denverlike. Saw some precip returns start to pop up just west of the field and sure enough, as our boy was making his way past the outer marker the bottom dropped out and a microburst hit the field, so now he's missed out of DEN and there's no telling when we're going to get another chance, so now it's a scramble. COS was getting annhilated with winds and wasn't a good choice to go while short on gas, but CYS was looking pretty good, with 20+ knots winds but right down the runway. Choice made, we bolt for CYS. CYS is about 25 minutes away, we had about 60 minutes of gas. This is where we were going to make our stand.

No sooner did we get off the radio and he points the thing north, a cell starts to form about 40 miles to the direct west of CYS and begins to make its way directly towards the field. We didn't have enough gas to go anywhere else, we were committed and the race was on. Now, anyone who knows about the -146 knows that it's about as fast as a straight wing Cessna. It was painful to watch this thing truck its way north. Luckily, he won the race, by about 2 minutes. As he is taxiing to the gate, the storm hits the field and it goes from 10+ to 1/4 in +TSRA. Fuel remaining was about 35 minutes.
 
No_Se said:
With that particuliar outfit, no that wasnt odd at all...if fact that was one of the more normal problems. One night a captain calls and says " Well, we're in Shannon, why did you divert us"? After several seconds of prcoess time, I told him I didn't "Divert You", you're suppose to be in Gatwick, the airport I released you". Well it turns out the owner of the airline called Berna Radio (not sure if they're still around) and diverted them to Shannon as he had a possible buyer for the plane in Shannon.....Ain't Supplemental neat....so much for Operational Control.
Click to expand...

HAHAHA!!! Man, I can relate. It actually surprises me that kind of thing didn't happen at my last outfit towards the end!

It really IS another world in Supplemental Land...
 
Had a few fun ones airborne - heart attack with CPR being performed in the galley and being asked by Medlink to land the aircraft ASAP...along with a couple fun ones like flap failures where the crew wanted me to verify a single-runway airport has sufficient room to land the plane there. My most interesting though was probably a pre-9/11 hijack attempt out of JFK. The plane never left the gate but a guy with a gun made it to the cockpit and demanded the plane be flown to Argentina. I didn't really do a whole lot other than notify all the company managers, etc. but it was an interesting night for sure...
 
My turn,

I dispatched a flight from SEA-OKO, and the lovely ground peeps forgot to empty the lavs. So, when the lav full meter is illuminated in the cockpit, down in DX, we get a call from El Capitan says that the lavs are full, that SEA ground handlers forgot to empty them. Since it was Christmas, my first response to the captain was "Merry Christmas, Sh__ters Full! This is about 300NM SSE of ANC. Our lovely Mgr of MX Ctrl is demands the aircraft is diverted into ANC. I, the working dispatcher, says no. Because if we do, we will be over MLW by nearly 200,000 lbs, Instead of diverting into ANC, those troops flew all the way to Japan without using the lavs.
 
deltabobo said:
My turn,

I dispatched a flight from SEA-OKO, and the lovely ground peeps forgot to empty the lavs. So, when the lav full meter is illuminated in the cockpit, down in DX, we get a call from El Capitan says that the lavs are full, that SEA ground handlers forgot to empty them. Since it was Christmas, my first response to the captain was "Merry Christmas, Sh__ters Full! This is about 300NM SSE of ANC. Our lovely Mgr of MX Ctrl is demands the aircraft is diverted into ANC. I, the working dispatcher, says no. Because if we do, we will be over MLW by nearly 200,000 lbs, Instead of diverting into ANC, those troops flew all the way to Japan without using the lavs.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, you sound kind of proud. Military hater ?
 
pljenkins said:
HAHAHA!!! Man, I can relate. It actually surprises me that kind of thing didn't happen at my last outfit towards the end! It really IS another world in Supplemental Land...
Click to expand...

Ha! But remember what DID happen right towards the end?!? Hint - 772. ;-)
 
deltabobo said:
My turn, I dispatched a flight from SEA-OKO, and the lovely ground peeps forgot to empty the lavs. So, when the lav full meter is illuminated in the cockpit, down in DX, we get a call from El Capitan says that the lavs are full, that SEA ground handlers forgot to empty them. Since it was Christmas, my first response to the captain was "Merry Christmas, Sh__ters Full! This is about 300NM SSE of ANC. Our lovely Mgr of MX Ctrl is demands the aircraft is diverted into ANC. I, the working dispatcher, says no. Because if we do, we will be over MLW by nearly 200,000 lbs, Instead of diverting into ANC, those troops flew all the way to Japan without using the lavs.
Click to expand...

Oh man...that is terrible.
 
pljenkins said:
HAHAHA!!! Man, I can relate. It actually surprises me that kind of thing didn't happen at my last outfit towards the end!

It really IS another world in Supplemental Land...
Click to expand...

Funniest thing ever, is when I made the jump to scheduled service, all my fellow DXers wouldn't believe my "war" stories from Supplemental land.
 
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