Southern Air Hiring Dispatchers!

[Kev]

https://www6.ultirecruit.com/SOU1027/JobBoard/JobDetails.aspx?__ID=*9053B03FA2E70E97

If you're anxious to delve into international flight planning, we hope you'll consider being part of the team. We have four 777 freighters in service now with DHL and more on the way. The aircraft have been a pleasure to work with, running "around the world" service. HKG-LAX-LEJ-HKG and CVG-BAH-HKG-CVG operate all week long and allow you to regularly work ETOPS. Those planes really are a pleasure to plan and follow. More 777s on the way.

We also have 3 747-400s, just added to the fleet this year, which operate primarily for the military, and fly into the middle east and pacific regions. Additional -400s will eventually replace our 747 classic models, which operate for various charter and contract customers.

You'll be using Navtech NFP for flight planning software, have the benefit of Aerodata for runway analysis calculation (in addition to the use of the Boeing Onboard Performance Tool), and we're aiming to get Flight Explorer as we reduce the 747 classics from our fleet. We're also on the verge of getting some cool toys for Met data, possibly WSI pilotbrief.Currently, we are not CASS but it is on the horizon.

Supplemental Ops isn't for everyone, but if you like a challenge and enjoy using analytical skills in a work environment which is seldom static, you have the opportunity to truly use all of your dispatching skills to their fullest potential.

I won't speak to the matter of compensation, as each candidate's salary may merit unique consideration based on experience. Even if you don't have much experience, they will value your potential.

I'm not management, I'm no recruiter, I'm just a dispatcher looking for some good teammates and I hope to be able to meet you at the desk and show you around during your interview. Hope you'll consider applying!

 

[F9DXER]

How is life treating you up that Kev?

 

[F9DXER]

up that way - dang my typing skills suck

 

[Kev]

Things are going well, I can't complain. Hope your new gig is fulfilling and pleasant.

 

[----****]

Is all your stuff linked together? I just got laid off from a similar 121 supp with similar software but nothing talked to each other and the end product we produced was complete crap. It took some north of 1 hour to do paperwork for one flight.

Also, how long until CASS? Will they let you commute once its there?

 

[izanti]

^^^ eh hem.....he will quit as soon as he gets offered a flying job again. Looking at the software you use he will complain about it all the time and scrutinize everything about your airline even though was never given any real responisbilities.

Buyer beware....

 

[Kev]

Yeah, I'm going to stay out of this one.

 

[----****]

Hey now........

I was just curious about their programs compared to where I just came from. I'm just trying to find out information.

So what if I spoke out a bit against my former company, a company I was furloughed from mind you. If you'd been @ my airline you'd say the same things. Just trying to find a place that won't end up turning into a similar experience. As for the no responsibilites.....really?

Just wanted some info since the OP brought up the software used, not the other way around. Just saying.......

BTW...... I turned down, I say again, turned down a 121 interview that had a very strong chance of turning into class date to go dispatch where I just came from

 

[Kev]

The short answer to your question is: at present the systems don't talk to each other except for Navtech and Aerodata. The company has mentioned they are planning to lessen incompatibility of maintenance software's ability to interact with flight planning software in addition to that of our flight tracker (Blue One, similar to Sabre Plot) with Navtech.This may be accomplished with the introduction of new software into the operation with products currently on the market.

Edit: I have no timeline for our inclusion in CASS.

 

[Kev]

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.

 

[----****]

Thanks for the info, that is all I wanted to know. It's nice to see that the company is willing to pay the money to link everything. We were all literary told that there would be NO money invested to link our multiple programs together that we used for flight packages.

Re: Pilot as a Dispatcher

There were some personal issues that arose many years ago that almost grounded me. In the inturn I got heavily involved & interested in dispatch. Fast forward to 2011, having been back flying, I figured I wanted to try dispatching again to see which career path was the best. In fact having the big picture and the dispatch experience has been a positive note on recent 121 flying job inquiries.

So I'll buy what you're selling for a pilot who takes a dispatch job with the sole purpose of crossing over but, whether you want to believe me or not, that isn't why I took my previous job. That was floated to me during the interview and my first week since others had done it before me but it wouldn't have been for a long while, if at all.

 

[Aeroscout840]

Well said, Kev.

 

[izanti]

Hey now........

I was just curious about their programs compared to where I just came from. I'm just trying to find out information.

So what if I spoke out a bit against my former company, a company I was furloughed from mind you. If you'd been @ my airline you'd say the same things. Just trying to find a place that won't end up turning into a similar experience. As for the no responsibilites.....really?

Just wanted some info since the OP brought up the software used, not the other way around. Just saying.......

BTW...... I turned down, I say again, turned down a 121 interview that had a very strong chance of turning into class date to go dispatch where I just came from

Dont worry Ga** (G767), I do know you and frankly I have seen you bash our airline enough on this and other forums to know how you really felt about us. Yes things could be better but you at your age will eventually find out that all airlines have flaws and no where will be perfect. Im sure it was great that your first airline spent so much money to have the best software but that is one of the many factors as to why they are now out of business and we have been going on for decades strong. You can say you were technically laid off sure but remember it happened two days before you effectively quit, you were in it all for the possible right seat gig which i cant blame you but as soon as furloughs were announced you supposedly accepted an offer flying somewhere else after a mere few weeks working in the office.

I am at your last airline and frankly it sounds like Southern uses the exact same software we do and knowing that you will complain about everything with them. All I can say is this is a very small industry and best not to burn bridges. Our airline was decent enough to give you a shot and spent a lot of money in the process but it has been clearly evident how much you appreciated that. I got some friends that will gladly appreciate the job when it reopens again.

Sorry to spoil your your post KEV. If you repost I promise you leave it alone lol.

 

[----****]

This is not the time nor place for this but.......

I'm very thankful for the chance at that place......... Never said any place was perfect either. Am I out spoken? Bash is a strong word. I spoke out against stuff I didn't like but I also noted the positives. Sure, I can have my opinions. Yet when it comes right down to it, I enjoyed everyone I worked with. In addition, that is NOT the reason I accepted the job. It was a nice "possible" outcome that could have come from employment there. I didn't leave with any flying offers and if you want to call 3+ months mere weeks, then I was there mere weeks.

Was I going to quit? Yeah, quite possibly! However, I figured that when the furloughs were announced and I wasn't happy it was a good time to leave. Whether you want to believe so or not, I wasn't going to be one of the four. Yet I wanted to be. So if the spot opens again, please give mine away (besides none of us have recall rights anyways since we're non-union). I had always wanted to work for said company and now I have. Been there, got the T-shirt. I'll save a spot for someone who needs/wants it. That was my entire purpose in the first place once furloughs (more like terminations because of "the loss of program flying") were announced. If you're still happy there, then I'm happy for you!

I sure hope not to burn bridges because I very much respect everyone at that company. They all do a fantastic job with the little support they have. Yet you and me both know the system needs some fixin..... An****(izanti)

 

[----****]

Sorry Kev for even inquiring about the position........

 

[Aeroscout840]

Southern Air ghost pilots.....

70mph winds at the boneyard levitate old SA airplanes.


http://gizmodo.com/5913878/video-of...source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

 

[OAKLNAD]

Is all your stuff linked together? I just got laid off from a similar 121 supp with similar software but nothing talked to each other and the end product we produced was complete crap. It took some north of 1 hour to do paperwork for one flight.

Also, how long until CASS? Will they let you commute once its there?

They will never get CASS according to management.