Don't have one of those, either.
Home Dispatching
- Thread starter RaimOutage
- Start date
dispatchguy
Well-Known Member
No I wouldnt even if it were offered to work flights from home. Write manuals, training, MELs from home - hell I get more done at home than the office anyway, I'd be all over it if we weren't essential...
I dont want our local Federales feeling it necessary to come to my house for a visit...
I dont want our local Federales feeling it necessary to come to my house for a visit...
F9DXER
Well-Known Member
If I remember correctly, when JetBlue started up, they tried to get the FAA to sign off on the dispatcher's working from home. Obviously that didn't happen.
As I have stated before in another post, a lot of things done in this industry are dictated by the companies insurance company.
Would someone dispatching from home have to get a rider of some sort on their policy because your company's insurance dictated it?
Again as previously mentioned, how would voice communication be recorded?
Many things would need to be answered before any of this will happen.
As I have stated before in another post, a lot of things done in this industry are dictated by the companies insurance company.
Would someone dispatching from home have to get a rider of some sort on their policy because your company's insurance dictated it?
Again as previously mentioned, how would voice communication be recorded?
Many things would need to be answered before any of this will happen.
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
Why would they come to your house? Everything can be done remotely. We've done remote competency checks.
In most OCC/SOC/NOC's, all major corporations for that matter, the phones are networked through the internet infrastructure. Whether there is an ethernet cable coming out of the phone or a tradition phone line, that connection eventually ends up running to a switch, a local server, and a router before it lets the call out over the internet. This is how these calls can be recorded in the first place. In our case we've replaced the physical phone that had an ethernet connection with phone software on the computer, so the phone works no differently and the calls can still be recorded. When dispatching from home you have to use the company VPN to connect to the company servers which allow the phone to work, but still it is all the same, the calls are reliably recorded.
To answer the OP question, yes I think there will be more possibilities for remote dispatch. I think if nothing else this is an opportunity to replace costly backup facilities used in emergencies by sending people to their homes. SkyWest is proving this can be done safely and reliably and I think other airlines will take notice. In my own opinion the only thing I think should be changed is that the company should subsidize the internet connection and equipment for dispatchers working remotely. I do worry about those who can't afford a reliable ISP and so they turn to some questionable local WISP that provides a fraction of the speed and reliability of the bigger providers.
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I remembered a while back seeing a posting at Delta for a remote flight dispatcher position. After reading the description I realized they would be making releases for sim flights and training. Still was interesting to see but would be night and day most likely compared to releasing live flights along with flight following.
QXSOUP
Just an ACARS message with feelings
Some of us choose to keep our work and private lives separate. There is NO way i would ever work from home.
CF34-3B1
Well-Known Member
It might sound simple in theory but not practical in the application.
Ive only worked as a dispatcher for 2 airlines so far, but at both I can’t tell you how many times we have had tech issues. Ans that’s on site, with “good” equipment, and on site tech support. You really think parting out the nerve center of the airline is going to be the most efficient way to do things?
FAA drug/alcohol tests cannot be done over FaceTime/zoom/Skype for obvious reasons.
Some people like the idea of a virtual life. I prefer a real life that separates work from home. I might be wrong, but I really don’t think we will see something like that at the majors any time soon. Heck, we still can’t even get electronic releases approved.
There’s a reason the NOC/IOC/OCC’s are set up the way they are. It’s the operational decision making center of the airline. While every NOC department has a different role, they are all in a central location to optimize efficiency.
If working 24/7 from home constantly on call “dispatching” sounds more appealing to you, places like Home Depot, Chick-Fil-A, Quiktrip, NCR, ADI, and other corporations employ “dispatchers” and they “work from home.” Which really means they are always tied to the computer/company phone and when the money man wants to fly, guess who is stopping whatever they are doing to cater to them?
I think most will find that life completely blows compared to actual dispatching for a major. Maybe it’ll be a few years until majors hire again. Worth the wait in my opinion.
Maybe the FAA really will suddenly change up all the regs and there’ll be a robot dispatching from home on an applewatch for spaceforce airways with 1 pilot flying an all electric jet from here to Musks palace on mars soon. I personally just don’t see that in my career.
Ive only worked as a dispatcher for 2 airlines so far, but at both I can’t tell you how many times we have had tech issues. Ans that’s on site, with “good” equipment, and on site tech support. You really think parting out the nerve center of the airline is going to be the most efficient way to do things?
FAA drug/alcohol tests cannot be done over FaceTime/zoom/Skype for obvious reasons.
Some people like the idea of a virtual life. I prefer a real life that separates work from home. I might be wrong, but I really don’t think we will see something like that at the majors any time soon. Heck, we still can’t even get electronic releases approved.
There’s a reason the NOC/IOC/OCC’s are set up the way they are. It’s the operational decision making center of the airline. While every NOC department has a different role, they are all in a central location to optimize efficiency.
If working 24/7 from home constantly on call “dispatching” sounds more appealing to you, places like Home Depot, Chick-Fil-A, Quiktrip, NCR, ADI, and other corporations employ “dispatchers” and they “work from home.” Which really means they are always tied to the computer/company phone and when the money man wants to fly, guess who is stopping whatever they are doing to cater to them?
I think most will find that life completely blows compared to actual dispatching for a major. Maybe it’ll be a few years until majors hire again. Worth the wait in my opinion.
Maybe the FAA really will suddenly change up all the regs and there’ll be a robot dispatching from home on an applewatch for spaceforce airways with 1 pilot flying an all electric jet from here to Musks palace on mars soon. I personally just don’t see that in my career.
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
What does drug and alcohol tests have to do with FaceTime/zoom/skype? You get a message telling you to report to the testing facility, you do it, and that's it.
You might not think it's practical, but it's happening right now and working fine.
Dispatching from home means that you would be at least 1 hour from the actual NOC OCC . Not any place you want. If for some reason you can’t do it remotely you will be required to get to physical office. Recording phone calls can be done as mentioned above. Again Jeppesen looked into it just feds at that time did I not want control outside the physical office. This is for 121 ops. Remote dispatching from home foe 91 and 135 is already happening, but again close to the companies hq. Feds may take a different stance with the virus going on and many companies doing virtual
Do you mean, "at MOST one hour from the NOC OCC?" as in, no more than an hour away? Also, I think there are 121 ops already doing remote 'spatching already (see flynryan692's posts).
Flagship_dxer
Penske Material
Skywest is non-union. For union carriers, management is going to always want to have a way to verify that the union workers are putting in their contractual work days and hours. If it ever happened, home dispatching at union carriers would likely be offset by some kind of a concession.
who'swho
Don't hesitate. Penetrate!
I think the thing everyone is forgetting about is companies are asking for this due to something that probably won't come along for another hundred years. The only reason the FAA has considered this is for one very obvious reason. Working from home sucks but so does dealing with a pandemic. If working from home helps to get this thing behind us sooner, then let's do it so we can all get back to working in an OCC and get our lives back. Obviously, if Skywest is working from home then it can be done. This will never be a permanent way of dispatching so let's all chill out just a little.
Luigi
Well-Known Member
I find this less than convincing. Truthfully dispatching from home is just a couple of steps away from paying jeppesen to send out flight plans. Easily my argument is sophistry and (at the extreme risk of being repetitive) fallacious, but I think in this matter we should be a firewall and say “no” to dispatching from home. Careers don’t disappear overnight; they get removed little by little and brick by brick. We need to be firm and resolute in refuting the idea that we are something less. Unfortunately I feel like this is just another brick...or maybe an entire wall in the structure of dispatch.
ID10T
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
Not all dispatching is created equal, and I don't mean that in a disparaging way. What one 121/135 shop can do safely from home may not be what another can. From my experience when there is a large scale diversion event or other IROP you can't replicate the collaborate effort that is summoned in an Ops Center, I don't care how good your technology is. Even on the day-to-day I can't tell you how many times my ass has been saved by overhearing a comment about a NOTAM or TAF from a neighbor. It's the same reason I'm guessing many of us work for an airline that doesn't allow you to have headphones in while you're working--loss of SA.
As the dispatcher if I'm making a pros and cons list for dispatching from home it is severely lopsided and almost all of the pros are for personal/selfish reasons.
As the dispatcher if I'm making a pros and cons list for dispatching from home it is severely lopsided and almost all of the pros are for personal/selfish reasons.
CF34-3B1
Well-Known Member
Don’t think working from home is going to speed up the end of the pandemic. What it probably will do though, is like others have said, lead to contracting to the lowest bidding company for dispatchers. I know there’s a few here that love the idea of working from home and see it as the greatest thing in the world, but for me, the “real reason” for the pushback is because I love my job and don’t want to see it slowly fade away because some people got lazy and wanted to work, eat, sleep, and live in the same chair in their apartment.
who'swho
Don't hesitate. Penetrate!
At least for union shops, you can't just contract out union work. Even if the FAA gave approval.
