manniax
Well-met in the Ka-tet
Kev recently posted a quite well thought-out post on his opinion of pilots working as dispatchers. I will quote him below - Kev, if you'd like me not to quote you just let me know and I will delete this post but I thought it was quite thought-provoking.
I'm not speaking for my employer on this next point, this is just my personal professional opinion. I think it's a bad idea for companies to hire pilots as dispatchers. It's one thing if a pilot realizes that life out on the line isn't suitable to the quality of life expected or desired. One may still wish to work in aviation, that is a yearning that is hard for some people to shake. The price of pilot certification can be steep, and it can be an enticing way to jump into a job to regain financial stability (to a certain extent) and still attain a sense of fulfillment. It may also seem a logical way to make ends meet if furloughed from the flight deck.
However, I think that if one were to retain hopes of becoming a professional pilot, the inevitable result is that employment in a dispatch environment would be temporary. Resignation either due to dissatisfaction of the working duties or to seek employment as a pilot are the most likely outcomes, and the company benefits little, if at all, from the experiment.
I'd like to clarify that nowhere in my opinion shall I suggest that pilots are not equipped to succeed as dispatchers. The overlap of knowledge required to execute well in both positions is significant. Yet most dispatchers, by and large, do not have "the bug," that almost addictive quality which beckons you to fly, which calls you to soar above the earth. That fundamental emotion is hardwired into a pilot's soul and cannot be loosed regardless of circumstance or aptitude. The presence of that emotion is about as close to fact as a perception can be.
Someone who possesses this quality is not going to maintain the same sense of interest and challenge from working as a dispatcher as one who does not. Despite the fundamental knowledge both positions share, a career dispatcher who enjoys the work is wired differently from a pilot. It is beneficial when empathy for one another's role in sharing operational control exists between the pilot and dispatcher, but I believe that the approach of a good dispatcher is aided by an ability to see things differently.
In particular, the role the dispatcher plays in safety, meteorological proficiency, and regulatory compliance when balanced with a regard to efficiency on the part of the company, is augmented by a different mindset than is normally nurtured by air crews. In my experience, I believe it is easier for a dispatcher to think like a pilot than vice versa. This is through no fault of the pilot, it's just increasingly evident that many have little idea as to what we really do and, in some cases, little appreciation as well. While pilots can and have made good dispatchers, I think that more often than not a pilot tends to approach duties on the desk in ways that may be better executed by one who holds dispatch responsibilities as primary motivation for continued employment in the field of aviation.
It's hard to shake "the bug," whether you have your feet on the ground or wish to be in the air. Yet if a pilot wishes to remain in the air, then it is there a pilot will, and should, stay.
I'm not speaking for my employer on this next point, this is just my personal professional opinion. I think it's a bad idea for companies to hire pilots as dispatchers. It's one thing if a pilot realizes that life out on the line isn't suitable to the quality of life expected or desired. One may still wish to work in aviation, that is a yearning that is hard for some people to shake. The price of pilot certification can be steep, and it can be an enticing way to jump into a job to regain financial stability (to a certain extent) and still attain a sense of fulfillment. It may also seem a logical way to make ends meet if furloughed from the flight deck.
However, I think that if one were to retain hopes of becoming a professional pilot, the inevitable result is that employment in a dispatch environment would be temporary. Resignation either due to dissatisfaction of the working duties or to seek employment as a pilot are the most likely outcomes, and the company benefits little, if at all, from the experiment.
I'd like to clarify that nowhere in my opinion shall I suggest that pilots are not equipped to succeed as dispatchers. The overlap of knowledge required to execute well in both positions is significant. Yet most dispatchers, by and large, do not have "the bug," that almost addictive quality which beckons you to fly, which calls you to soar above the earth. That fundamental emotion is hardwired into a pilot's soul and cannot be loosed regardless of circumstance or aptitude. The presence of that emotion is about as close to fact as a perception can be.
Someone who possesses this quality is not going to maintain the same sense of interest and challenge from working as a dispatcher as one who does not. Despite the fundamental knowledge both positions share, a career dispatcher who enjoys the work is wired differently from a pilot. It is beneficial when empathy for one another's role in sharing operational control exists between the pilot and dispatcher, but I believe that the approach of a good dispatcher is aided by an ability to see things differently.
In particular, the role the dispatcher plays in safety, meteorological proficiency, and regulatory compliance when balanced with a regard to efficiency on the part of the company, is augmented by a different mindset than is normally nurtured by air crews. In my experience, I believe it is easier for a dispatcher to think like a pilot than vice versa. This is through no fault of the pilot, it's just increasingly evident that many have little idea as to what we really do and, in some cases, little appreciation as well. While pilots can and have made good dispatchers, I think that more often than not a pilot tends to approach duties on the desk in ways that may be better executed by one who holds dispatch responsibilities as primary motivation for continued employment in the field of aviation.
It's hard to shake "the bug," whether you have your feet on the ground or wish to be in the air. Yet if a pilot wishes to remain in the air, then it is there a pilot will, and should, stay.
