FAA Memo About Process to DFH - Dispatch From Home

Off-shoring the process is a TOTALLY different matter with the FAA! While i spoke above rather casually about the work at home set-up, it was quite a heavy lift for many departments to meet FAA needs. Karee is spot on with his question. One could draw all kinds of diagrams and graphs and lines and charts that might, in the end, possibly connect offshoring with me working at home (one leading to the other), however; when you calm down and think about it...how much cheaper is it to run the show from "Mumbai" rather than have us work from home. If you assume that the folks in Mumbai, (sorry Mumbai, you are our racist trope of the day), will forever work for $7 an hour or whatever yttihs sum, then you are completely disconnected with what is happening in the world. ...Gotta run...Indian Curry at the front door..... Cheers to my friends in Mumbai!!
 
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TXDX said:
Let's stop giving in/up on our careers fellas. For the sake of our future that is. Dont forget, nowadays it's becoming easier and easier to do things remotely. Dispatching can't be one of them.
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I don't think anybody is giving in or up on careers. Remote dispatching is being considered to get people out of OCC's so they can "social distance". Imagine what would happen to an airline if COVID started spreading through the office/building, they'd be screwed more than they already are. We can't sit here and scream that the sky is falling and everything is so dangerous with COVID and then turn around and refuse to give an idea that protects people a shot. Knowing you have the infrastructure to send dispatchers home in the event of an emergency is a good thing.

I think there is a long uphill battle for anyone that thinks they can get remote dispatching approved as the norm.
 
Here's a thought:

It was brought up a few weeks back when Spirit relocated outta Florida just in time to have Nashville devastated by an EF-3 tornado. What about an airline's back-up OCC? We want to social distance, and we also want to keep things legal. Why not open the secondary OCC location up and TDY a good portion of the staff out that way? It's still a federally recognized location, and it also gets things distant. Keep both OCCs up and running; wherever the dispatcher is located, has that flight's operational control.
 
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I get that everyone has had a bunch of time to sharpen our pitchforks but chill out on the whole "our jerbs!!!" stuff. I think this pandemic has highlighted the importance of having a backup plan to keep flights operating while a SOC is down. Dispatching from home is nothing more than a backup plan, I don't think this is going to or could replace a traditional SOC or lead to sending jobs overseas.
 
Companies like Jeppesen already offer services that we do and if you can do it in a building other than the NOC, you can offer the work to the lowest bidder like a regional, it doesn’t have to be over seas. Once you start breaking down the regs it’ll put things in motion and it will be very hard to stop or undo.

If you don’t like going to work night I suggest finding a different career? For the money we are paid I don’t think it’s all that bad to be expected to show up to campus to do this awesome job.
 
Burrito said:
Here's a thought:

It was brought up a few weeks back when Spirit relocated outta Florida just in time to have Nashville devastated by an EF-3 tornado. What about an airline's back-up OCC? We want to social distance, and we also want to keep things legal. Why not open the secondary OCC location up and TDY a good portion of the staff out that way? It's still a federally recognized location, and it also gets things distant. Keep both OCCs up and running; wherever the dispatcher is located, has that flight's operational control.
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Many are, apparently it hasn’t been enough, which is odd, since the people I’m now talking to are across town and across the room. Guess that isn’t up to snuff on social distancing anymore.
 
This is a pretty unique circumstance our industry has never had to deal with. It's a one off deal that will probably not be repeated in our lifetime. Mumbai will not become a factor.
 
CF34-3B1 said:
Companies like Jeppesen already offer services that we do and if you can do it in a building other than the NOC, you can offer the work to the lowest bidder like a regional, it doesn’t have to be over seas. Once you start breaking down the regs it’ll put things in motion and it will be very hard to stop or undo.

If you don’t like going to work night I suggest finding a different career? For the money we are paid I don’t think it’s all that bad to be expected to show up to campus to do this awesome job.
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Jepp already lobbied unsuccessfully to contract dispatch 121. Many hurdles they couldn't pass like operational control vested with actual airline employees and how to ensure control of competing airlines isn't pitted against each other.
 
Troy McClure said:
My "shop" has gotten approval and I've bee dicksracthing from home for about 2 weeks. Basic process, at home kids build releases and then the in office supervisors quickly approve and send when due. We do flight following, ala Fusion and all manuals are online. We have nice new computers, EFB's, company mobile phone, nice big monitor,(works great with Xplane11!). We even have it approved to work from the local hotel with super-slippery wifi, ....for those that do not have wifi at home. I know, right? So our SOC is not totally shut down, Mx control, and crew sched are still there. Oh...that's the doorbell, pizza is here.... Later . oh, And for the nail-biters...no bosses, no sups, no FAA have been anywhere near my home.
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when the supervisors approve and send do their names attach or still yours? Do you have the ability to amend or does that fall to them? How many supervisors are now running the release portion of the airlines operations? is that a reasonable taskload for them? If you’re flight following do you have the ability for rapid and reliable communication with the airplane? Do air to ground coms come to you or the in office supervisors?

if your a 121 scheduled/flag carrier theres a lot of issues to overcome. It you’re rolling under supplemental then the issues decrease but it’s hard to argue the same level of safety/legality is being maintainEd.

seems like a hard sell. But good for y’all. I’m down for it, I could be having a crap day, call in sick for the last half of my shift, and literally have a drink in hand in under 3 feet. Perfect.
 
Delta Echo said:
There some regional execs probably drooling over the thought of sub contracting already contracted work, but there wet dream isn't going to happen.
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I was referring to the part of "for the money we are paid."

Last I checked, my paycheck was tiny.

Delta Echo said:
Jepp already lobbied unsuccessfully to contract dispatch 121. Many hurdles they couldn't pass like operational control vested with actual airline employees and how to ensure control of competing airlines isn't pitted against each other.
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Seems like regionals that handle multiple codeshares would have that same issue about pitting each airlines against each other, no?
 
I don't know if anyone is old enough to remember the old FAA flight service stations. They were kind of a dispatch related function for light aircraft back until maybe the early 90's. They filed flight plans, provided weather info, took pilot reports, ect. They were all over the country. We had one in little ole Wenatchee, WA (KEAT) and I could walk right in there and get a flight briefing from an FAA employee, a flight service specialist. Well, the FAA sold it out to a private contractor and for all intents and purposes the whole thing has been replaced by better technology. A light aircraft guy can get the same info and accomplish the same things online now.
 
QXDX said:
I think the Dispatcher job as we know it will not exist in the future. Technology has advanced to the point where the job can be done by a pilot with a tablet and an app. The only obstacle is regulatory, and it looks like that wall is starting to crumble. I wouldn't count on support from pilots or pilot unions. My experience has shown that they don't care who does the release, as long as they have one. The ones I know would just as soon do their own flight planning anyway

The economic carnage of the last month, plus the fear of getting sick will result in less people flying, at least in the short term (2 -3 years). Consider also that the Coronavirus lock-down has shown the world a new way to work; one which does not require people traveling.

Just my opinion, but if you're banking on a long career of pumping out releases, you might want to start considering alternatives.

I think airlines will still need operational control professionals. but the job description will change.

I guess we'll see.
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If the dispatch role goes away and pilot are allowed to plan their own flights, I don't see airlines doing too well financially . Pilots don't care much about the bottom line or airline finances as long as they get paid and they have enough fuel to "feel comfortable", and would plan each flight to MTOW/MLDW. One of the main tasks of a dispatcher is to plan fuel safely and efficiently and ultimately save the company money in the long run. I believe that fact in itself will keep dispatchers around for a long time.
 
You can make pilots input the diversion airport into ACARS, then have a server check for airport closure notams (that'd already be stored in a database), and return diversion OK or diversion not authorized. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two, in theory. We do more complicated things through ACARS today, that'd be no sweat. I would think flight followers would still be a thing though.
 
flynryan692 said:
You can make pilots input the diversion airport into ACARS, then have a server check for airport closure notams (that'd already be stored in a database), and return diversion OK or diversion not authorized. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two, in theory. We do more complicated things through ACARS today, that'd be no sweat. I would think flight followers would still be a thing though.
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I'm not sure how many times I've seen airports lag posting closed NOTAMs or all the runways were closed, but it was still open, etc. would have to be major over haul before that could happen.

Let's also not talk about how many times we've had pilots want to divert immediately and we talked them into holding which is why they actually made it in, with massive amounts of fuel still on board.
 
A couple of things that may prevent totally dispatching at home.
1. How will any verbal conversation be recorded? Who is going to do it and where is it going to be stored? If working from home will the dispatcher have to forward the files to company?
2. What will an airlines insurance company have to say about it. Sometimes a lot of things an airline does is not because of the regs but what the insurance company wants.
 
The FAA policy of requiring 2 sets of eyes on things will be the hard one to go away. Yes some pilots can do their own flight plans on an app Today. But will they be on the ATC telcons to know what’s coming.

Will they be allowed to Bill the company for flight planning. for example, if your crew shows 45 prior now, will they be given more time to come in and do the plan. say 30 minutes. 1 dispatcher plans 30 flights for $x an hour in a 10 hour shift. Now you have 30 pilots (or 15 billable hours this case) at $3x an hour.

thats just one issue to overcome. Not to say it cannot happen in domestic environment. Euro carriers kind of all do this now, but the eurocontrol airspace works much different than the US. Long haul internstional would be a real challenge. I’m not concerned about this in my career. Not yet anyways.
 
QXDX said:
I think the Dispatcher job as we know it will not exist in the future. Technology has advanced to the point where the job can be done by a pilot with a tablet and an app. The only obstacle is regulatory, and it looks like that wall is starting to crumble. I wouldn't count on support from pilots or pilot unions. My experience has shown that they don't care who does the release, as long as they have one. The ones I know would just as soon do their own flight planning anyway

The economic carnage of the last month, plus the fear of getting sick will result in less people flying, at least in the short term (2 -3 years). Consider also that the Coronavirus lock-down has shown the world a new way to work; one which does not require people traveling.

Just my opinion, but if you're banking on a long career of pumping out releases, you might want to start considering alternatives.

I think airlines will still need operational control professionals. but the job description will change.

I guess we'll see.
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We'll see single cockpits with dispatch evolving into a drone pilot role before we would ever see dispatch go away.
 
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