Flight dispatch school for my son, but it's 2018 now. New poster.

I

ImNotFlyingEver

Active Member
He's got 3 years before he's 23. I have spent all afternoon and evening up to now reading these forums. Wow. It seems like there is such a disparity among school attendees opinions and all over the years. I've been reading these threads all the way back to 2008/9, such a treasure trove this forum provides on insight.
He has 11 hours of flying instruction in a Diamond, working towards his ppl.
Is working his own ground school via onlinegroundschool.com
In college at the moment working towards an associates degree in business, then a bachelors.

Loves flying. That said the flight dispatch field interests him a lot. I've been in aviation/flight operations for many years in my life, (mostly military), however the differences between the ppl cirriculum and fdx are really yuge, especially the 'new set of acronyms' to learn. Good grief! haha!

I guess, my main question is, how beneficial is passing the faa ground school test to helping him in flight dispatcher school?
Additionally, having his ppl, does this help?
We have 3 years to go before his 23rd birthday.
Any input is appreciated. As a former air operations officer (with a sh*t ton of experience when crazy stuff happens) I know this can be a hectic and very technically challenging job.. and every carrier is going to have their own methods of doing business.
Thanks for your responses people!
 
Absolutely pass the ADX written prior to attending school,some schools require that I think. He will be far too busy learning dispatch stuff to complicate it with trying to pass the ADX.


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ImNotFlyingEver said:
He's got 3 years before he's 23. I have spent all afternoon and evening up to now reading these forums. Wow. It seems like there is such a disparity among school attendees opinions and all over the years. I've been reading these threads all the way back to 2008/9, such a treasure trove this forum provides on insight.
He has 11 hours of flying instruction in a Diamond, working towards his ppl.
Is working his own ground school via onlinegroundschool.com
In college at the moment working towards an associates degree in business, then a bachelors.

Loves flying. That said the flight dispatch field interests him a lot. I've been in aviation/flight operations for many years in my life, (mostly military), however the differences between the ppl cirriculum and fdx are really yuge, especially the 'new set of acronyms' to learn. Good grief! haha!

I guess, my main question is, how beneficial is passing the faa ground school test to helping him in flight dispatcher school?
Additionally, having his ppl, does this help?
We have 3 years to go before his 23rd birthday.
Any input is appreciated. As a former air operations officer (with a sh*t ton of experience when crazy stuff happens) I know this can be a hectic and very technically challenging job.. and every carrier is going to have their own methods of doing business.
Thanks for your responses people!
Click to expand...
You have to pass your written PPL test as part of the requirement to get your dispatch license so it definitely won't hurt him to get his PPL. Seems like about half of the dispatchers out there have their PPL.
 
Not sure if the flight training will help or not (as I don't have one).

I did go to class with pilots though (anywhere from Private with Instrument to ATPs) and the ones that had instrument training said it helped them only because they'd learned how to read charts, and plates before.

I also know people who took the ADX before school by studying with SheppardAir.

I took a 5 week course at Institute of Flight Operations and Dispatch in Irving Texas. I took both the written and oral/practical exams there. I felt more than adequately prepared for both with only a dozen drops of aviation knowledge.

I'd say to tell your son to finish his degrees and then attend one of the dispatch schools after graduation OR if he happens to go to a college that offers the dispatch certification as a program then do it as part of the degree program.


Best of luck to you and your son. Thank you for your service!
 
who'swho said:
You have to pass your written PPL test as part of the requirement to get your dispatch license so it definitely won't hurt him to get his PPL. Seems like about half of the dispatchers out there have their PPL.
Click to expand...

Umm... what? I didn't have to pass anything but the ADX Written (which is nothing like the Practice Private Pilot tests that I've seen).
 
who'swho said:
You have to pass your written PPL test as part of the requirement to get your dispatch license so it definitely won't hurt him to get his PPL. Seems like about half of the dispatchers out there have their PPL.
Click to expand...
Ummm, yea....no. All you have to do is pass the written, and the practical exams. Private Pilot licensing has zero to do with it.
 
I would tell your son to decide in the next year or so which career path he wants to go down. Both pilot and dispatch careers are very seniority oriented and both often require considerable amount of time paying dues at the regionals or other jobs to get to the final career job. Even in the final career job, he will start out junior and his pay and schedule will reflect that. The earlier he cant get into either career field means he will have a better time of it and have more time topped out on pay, equipment and schedule.

Because he has already started on the pilot path, it would be easier and more cost effective to wait until he decides on career path before getting his dispatch license or written done.

You can take the written and practical before age 23 but will have to wait until age 23 before getting the actual license. This may help a lot as when he turns 23 he can start applying for jobs.
 
ImNotFlyingEver said:
He's got 3 years before he's 23. I have spent all afternoon and evening up to now reading these forums. Wow. It seems like there is such a disparity among school attendees opinions and all over the years. I've been reading these threads all the way back to 2008/9, such a treasure trove this forum provides on insight.
He has 11 hours of flying instruction in a Diamond, working towards his ppl.
Is working his own ground school via onlinegroundschool.com
In college at the moment working towards an associates degree in business, then a bachelors.

Loves flying. That said the flight dispatch field interests him a lot. I've been in aviation/flight operations for many years in my life, (mostly military), however the differences between the ppl cirriculum and fdx are really yuge, especially the 'new set of acronyms' to learn. Good grief! haha!

I guess, my main question is, how beneficial is passing the faa ground school test to helping him in flight dispatcher school?
Additionally, having his ppl, does this help?
We have 3 years to go before his 23rd birthday.
Any input is appreciated. As a former air operations officer (with a sh*t ton of experience when crazy stuff happens) I know this can be a hectic and very technically challenging job.. and every carrier is going to have their own methods of doing business.
Thanks for your responses people!
Click to expand...
I'd encourage your son to finish his degree first, but it would be better if it were a STEM or an accounting degree; business degree holders are a dime a dozen. Number one, many airlines, particularly majors, REQUIRE a degree; if it's not an outright requirement, it's often a preference. Secondly, should dispatch not work out for him, then he can do something else; the degree will give him another option. Either he could be laid off due to a merger or economic downturn; or, he might not like dispatch. DX is NOT for everybody. One can study and research the field all they want, but until one is in the hot seat (i.e. on the desk) dispatching flights, one cannot truly know what it's like. School was one thing, but working the desk with 40+ flights on an IROP day-that's something else!
 
FM2 Fan said:
I'd encourage your son to finish his degree first, but it would be better if it were a STEM or an accounting degree; business degree holders are a dime a dozen. Number one, many airlines, particularly majors, REQUIRE a degree; if it's not an outright requirement, it's often a preference. Secondly, should dispatch not work out for him, then he can do something else; the degree will give him another option. Either he could be laid off due to a merger or economic downturn; or, he might not like dispatch. DX is NOT for everybody. One can study and research the field all they want, but until one is in the hot seat (i.e. on the desk) dispatching flights, one cannot truly know what it's like. School was one thing, but working the desk with 40+ flights on an IROP day-that's something else!
Click to expand...

On the other hand, if your son is interested in starting his own business or even being on the business side of things (even in the Aviation world), I wouldn't discourage him from the Business degree.

Arguably, having a degree in anything is better than no degree (or so they say).
 
bbmikej said:
The ADX is essentially the ATP with an added section for dispatchers. So studying as a pilot for the ATP will greatly help with the ADX.
Click to expand...

Right. The ATP would be, but the poster above was talking about taking the Private Pilot's Exam as a prerequisite for the ADX and that is incorrect.

Airport Transport Pilot (ATP) Yes
Private Pilots Written (PPL) Written No
 
Actually I was referring to how much of finishing ground school + exams and finally getting his ppl would benefit him in the dispatch field of training. He's 3 years from the 23yo point to where he's eligible for the ticket. I know everything he does in aviation will help him just looking for more specifics. He's looking to transfer to an aviation related college atm. +Wow I had no idea how many responses I would get here. Thank you all!
 
A80TRACON said:
Have him apply to be an FAA controller now. To hell with waiting till he's 23 :p
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Wow. Thanks for the suggestion. My ears are totally green here (2018), and I do know the work environment well. Thank you again. Trying not to second guess my boy's abilities. ugh! Maybe I should just get out of this and keep my mouth shut... and let nature take it's course. Things are so different these days. Just hoping for the best outcome. Want him to succeed in life!
 
DogwoodLynx said:
Right. The ATP would be, but the poster above was talking about taking the Private Pilot's Exam as a prerequisite for the ADX and that is incorrect.

Airport Transport Pilot (ATP) Yes
Private Pilots Written (PPL) Written No
Click to expand...

PPL/Written - No not as a prerequisite, but to help him learn the ropes that need to be learned to eventually become a dispatcher. All the basics are there, Charts, Nav, Comms, aerodynamics, etc... Yeah I get the ATP thing, but who the heck would take a test for president when the qualifications for factory worker are required to get there? He's gonna get his ppl eventually, I'm just looking for more supportive reasoning on finishing ground school stuff. My best guess at the moment is that at least 50% of what he's working on will actually apply to a dispatcher position base line learning. At least as he does this on his own time before he's 23, it won't be the same 'firehose' scenario in five weeks (dispatch school) that I've read so much about.
Thanks folks!
(FWIW I have NO IDEA what I'm talking about! I'm trying though!)
 
ImNotFlyingEver said:
Actually I was referring to how much of finishing ground school + exams and finally getting his ppl would benefit him in the dispatch field of training. He's 3 years from the 23yo point to where he's eligible for the ticket. I know everything he does in aviation will help him just looking for more specifics. He's looking to transfer to an aviation related college atm. +Wow I had no idea how many responses I would get here. Thank you all!
Click to expand...

Bold 1: Getting the pilots license definitely won't hurt him! I say go for it! ;)

Bold 2: Sounds good to me.

Bold 3: Welcome to JetCareers and you're welcome! Lots of very knowledgeable people on this site
 
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