Airport ARFF Index

[A-9er]

If an airport issues a NOTAM for a reduction in ARFF that isn't a guarantee they notified your SOC. ESPECIALLY if you are planning at a regional airline flying in and out of these smaller airfields.

Sorry but saying you'll deal with it at a major and not a regional is lazy dispatching.

No one ever MENTIONED this during training, so they didn't think it was important.

 

[A-9er]

Its surprising sometimes to read the regs and see that cargo pilots are sacrificed more than pax ops. Like better to risk 2 crewmembers than 52 people on a little RJ due to no ARFF req for the cargo plane.

Another example is cargo that has CARGO AIRCRAFT ONLY restrictions on it. You are still risking the lives of 2 people if something goes wrong with that cargo. The fact that its boxes in the back and not pax doesnt change the fact that lives would still potentially be lost in a crash.

I guess that the implicit assumption is that cargo pilots know what they're getting into, i.e. that they could carry hazardous cargo on an aircraft that they fly.

 

[A-9er]

Our OPSPECS are type specific in C70 (now). It hasn’t stopped dispatchers from using airports they shouldn’t for a specific aircraft type, but at least it’s there for you to not read and get yourself in trouble.

FYI, go cargo, ARFF doesn’t matter

We only have one type of aircraft, so that doesn't apply to us-at least not yet. I've heard talk that we'll be getting MRJs in the future, which is a totally different type of aircraft; at that point, it may be an issue for us.

 

[who'swho]

No one ever MENTIONED this during training, so they didn't think it was important.

Sounds like the training program there should revisit ARFF NOTAMs and how they apply to dispatch. I've had some leads/instructors that are excellent and others... not so much.

 

[A-9er]

Sounds like the training program there should revisit ARFF NOTAMs and how they apply to dispatch. I've had some leads/instructors that are excellent and others... not so much.

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Yep, I've seen the same.

 

[MikeD]

No one ever MENTIONED this during training, so they didn't think it was important.

It's not that its not important, I don't think, it's more that its one of those things which is easily overlooked. Another example of something easily overlooked is when guys are going to an airport they haven't been to before or used before in a sizeable aircraft, most people look at runway length, approach and runway lighting, etc. But runway weight bearing capacity, as defined by landing gear type, is often never looked at, when it could very possibly apply depending on the particular airport. As mentioned many times, something like ARFF index changes will appear in the NOTAMs, which you as a dispatcher are checking anyway; so it will either be addressed then if it's the first time you're seeing it, or will have already been addressed by your operations, I would imagine.

 

[4EngineETOPS]

FWIW, here's an RFSS (ICAO term for ARFF) NOTAM I came across today. No need to worry too much about it, any notable changes to ARFF status will be NOTAMed. What effect this has depends on your company's OPSPECS.