121 pilot DX ticket
- Thread starter LostComm
- Start date
No I had a commercial for what it’s worth. Hopefully I can help what are you curious about
For dx? I’m not aware of anything like that. You can do an accelerated course but the faa still requires a requirement for hours in class
ZapBrannigan
If it ain’t a Boeing, I’m not going. No choice.
I got one during one of my furloughs. Couple week course, ATP written, day long practical.
Tough certificate to get. Problem is there's way fewer dispatchers than there are pilots. So I've never worked a day as a dispatcher despite all of my periods of joblessness.
Tough certificate to get. Problem is there's way fewer dispatchers than there are pilots. So I've never worked a day as a dispatcher despite all of my periods of joblessness.
This is true. My practical was 8 hours long and nobody cares about your flying experience. Only thing is 121 dispatch time. Unfortunate but the way hiring is now if you ever get furloughed tbh just accept the bad pay or leave the industry tbh
CrashesDrones
Well-Known Member
FAR 65.57. Two years as a 121 pilot and you're not required to take a course at all.
We had one or two pilots come in at the end of my class at Jeppesen, the main focus is on the manual flight planning which you'll then never do again after the practical.
Troy McClure
Ah say boy...Whattcha got there son?
I've been dispatching for 23 yrs....Can I just skip it and grab an ATP? Same same, right?
Functionally, sure! /sarcasm! The point here is to have a fallback as well as learn some the more in depth items on my flight plan. I get half to a full inch of dead trees each flight and it's tough finding the nuggets I need. I suspect my DX could find those nuggets rather quickly (at least the regulatory things.)
-LC
CrashesDrones
Well-Known Member
As a fallback sure, but don't have any expectation you'll learn anything except things you learned getting your ATP and forgot because they have no practical use.
Flagship_dxer
Penske Material
I would discourage pilots from getting a dispatch certificate as a back up plan. For one, it pilots are being furloughed then chances are so are dispatchers. Secondly, pilots benefit from age 65 retirement for faster seniority advancement. Dispatch has no age 65 so movement is much slower at the more desirable jobs. Unless you are in your 20s or early 30s, you are going to spend almost all of your career on the schedules that no one else wanted. If you are getting it as a temporary furlough job then you will likely spend all of it on midnights.
Lastly, dispatch has more competition for jobs than pilots do. Airlines never beg dispatchers to join or hire without interviews. Pilots are often viewed with suspicion as every airline has both good stories and bad stories of former pilots that became dispatchers. The bad stories are usually pilots who lost their medical or retired and thought dispatch was an easy, stress free job only to discover dispatchers are normally very busy with difficult schedules for new hires.
Lastly, dispatch has more competition for jobs than pilots do. Airlines never beg dispatchers to join or hire without interviews. Pilots are often viewed with suspicion as every airline has both good stories and bad stories of former pilots that became dispatchers. The bad stories are usually pilots who lost their medical or retired and thought dispatch was an easy, stress free job only to discover dispatchers are normally very busy with difficult schedules for new hires.
gopherdx
Well-Known Member
Great points. It’s always funny to me when doing my FAM rides the questions I get from pilots. “Wait you’re planning AND following up to 25 flights per shift?? I always thought y'all only had 1-2 flights”.
We’ve had some pilots come shadow dispatch in the SOC and it’s the same reaction every single time. Most don’t know what we do or how busy it can get.
who'swho
Don't hesitate. Penetrate!
Honestly, most of the stuff you learn as a dispatcher happens in class at the airline. Dispatch school just gets you a "license to learn". Personally, I'd put the money to other uses unless or until you lose your medical. Then try it as a fallback.
Or even in OJT at the airline. There can be quite a lot of tribal knowledge.
It's great when we get the pilots that visit who usually call and think they are our only flight then they visit us and they GET IT. Also its pretty cool letting them see the depth of the resources we have available to us to help them out. Some crews were even surprised we can see their aircraft parameters over ACARS along with the usual crew messages we get.
bbmikej
Well-Known Member
Or 50-60 sometimes.
manniax
Well-met in the Ka-tet
Agreed. The license doesn't take long to get, and as an ATP you would have the option of doing an accelerated class. I would also like to add - every airline has their own hiring practices, but I wouldn't assume that you'd get an automatic job offer for the next dispatch class where you're flying if you lost your medical. (This is not to say you wouldn't be able to get hired as an internal employee either, but your airline would have to be hiring dispatchers and you'd have to go through whatever hiring process HR has set up.) And of course, there are various jobs within the flight department that wouldn't require a medical either (sim instructor, etc.) that might be easier to switch to than starting in a whole new career field.
Flyinthrew
Well-Known Member
Not to mention that if you have any intention of staying on the pilot seniority list and receive long term disability there’s no way that’s going to work.
ZapBrannigan
If it ain’t a Boeing, I’m not going. No choice.
UAL and SWA (if the TA passes) got LTD with no offsets. So you could do it without impact to LTD payments
