Yeah the dispatcher has operational control but so does every party in your ops center... Maintenance Control is responsible for airworthiness. Crew scheduling is responsible for legality of crews. Dispatch is responsible for the flight. System control is responsible for coordinating between all of these entities. Don't think dispatch is the only holder of operational control. That is an inexperienced take. Operational control can also be delegated beyond dispatch by the DO...One of the most annoying things I had was a pilot ask me why we were delaying a flight. I asked who said that and they said the gate agent. Gate agent said it was the airline ops at the airport. Airline ops said it was dispatch. I called my coordinator and they were like "oh yeah, it needed to be delayed for xyz." Made me so made. First, that is an operational control function which is the dispatchers decision (I would have just said OK anyways). 2nd, that instead of telling me before they put the delay in, I had to spend 5 to 10 minutes playing literal telephone to find out about a decision that was made 20 feet from where I was sitting.
I think you picked out the wrong part of my post to comment about. I know operationally delays happen for things like crew connections and gate space. The annoying thing was that I had to call through a line of 4 or 5 people up even find out about it. The dispatcher shouldn't be the last person to find out about a delay.Yeah the dispatcher has operational control but so does every party in your ops center... Maintenance Control is responsible for airworthiness. Crew scheduling is responsible for legality of crews. Dispatch is responsible for the flight. System control is responsible for coordinating between all of these entities. Don't think dispatch is the only holder of operational control. That is an inexperienced take. Operational control can also be delegated beyond dispatch by the DO...
sounds like a process issue over there and a documentation issue. Every airline software has the ability to notate delay reasons. Most delays are rotational type delays from prior flights.I think you picked out the wrong part of my post to comment about. I know operationally delays happen for things like crew connections and gate space. The annoying thing was that I had to call through a line of 4 or 5 people up even find out about it. The dispatcher shouldn't be the last person to find out about a delay.
I think you have a confused definition of operational control.sounds like a process issue over there and a documentation issue. Every airline software has the ability to notate delay reasons. Most delays are rotational type delays from prior flights.
I don't disagree with you entirely, but you're not telling the flight when to leave, you're authorizing them to leave within a certain time window. At my shop, that's ETD -10 minutes/+2 hours for domestic flights. Part of operational control is flight following. So whether the delay is due to crew connection or a broken tug, your software should provide a way to stay up to date on the status of each of your flights independently.I think you have a confused definition of operational control.
It's the authority to initiate, conduct, and terminate a flight.
And only a dispatcher shares that responsibility with the Pilot in Command.
That's a non-negotiable for the FAA, the FAR's and the company OpSpecs at most 121 air carriers.
Yes...everyone else has a say in some part of the flight...but my assigned flights with my name on that dispatch release do not leave the ground without my initiation
I don't disagree with you entirely, but you're not telling the flight when to leave, you're authorizing them to leave within a certain time window. At my shop, that's ETD -10 minutes/+2 hours for domestic flights. Part of operational control is flight following. So whether the delay is due to crew connection or a broken tug, your software should provide a way to stay up to date on the status of each of your flights independently.
I have also been known to ask the load planner not to send final weightsAll true, when you file the strip with ATC. I feel like many newer dispatchers forget the power of “pulling the strip” which effectively grounds them until you re-file. So yeah, if you file the strip when you don’t deem it’s safe to go for whatever reason (OOS, WX, etc) you’re essentially leaving it up to the crew to decide.