What Are Your Peeves and Problems as a Dispatcher?

manniax said:
I had one boss that seemed to think that "Pilot Ass Kissing 101" should be a required course in dispatch school. We didn't get along very well...he was a grounded former corporate pilot.

One note on requiring pilots to observe dispatch...it is a good idea in theory, but I have experienced it in practice, and it is a huge PITA to get every pilot at the company observation time. (At my previous airline we only did it with new hires - 2 hours required - and we all got sick of it.) I don't know what the answer is except to say that any interested pilot is always welcome to come observe - but I'd hate to see every pilot in the company be REQUIRED to come observe every year, due to the sheer number of pilots involved. It would be a logistical nightmare.
Click to expand...

Im currently working on a mock up of a presentation for Dispatch that could presented to the Pilot group in 2 hours, as a group. Its a walk through of our software and the process of building releases, as well as a bunch of "what-if" scenarios in which we could walk the boys through what happens on our end when things dont go according to plan(Diversions, medical emergencies, mechanical problems in flight, getting behind on burn, security disturbences, extended holding, extended taxi times, etc) In addition, we could walk them through the other things we are doing besides releasing flights (CBT, Jepp Updates, QRG updates) and our basis for ASAP reports. In addition, it would include an explanation into our licensing and trainging requirements, as well as our duty and rest requirements.

Ive mentioned it, informally, to our training manager. Logistically speaking, having every pilot come in would be a nightmare. They outnumber us 10:1. But think if they had a Dispatcher come in to do a 2 hour presentation for their 9 month pilot recurrent classes.
 
Krystal said:
3...hours...before I talked to them. I have full access to their schedules and scheduling sits right next to me. I know how long my crews have been on duty. it was a two hour flight flight and they were asking for a plane swap in flight. If they had been on duty 8 hours and were facing a 30 minute turn with a plane change I would have had no problem. They were mad because I "wouldnt" swap fro them....and its not even my job. This is the reason why pilots NEED to sit with DX or at least sit through a presentation....there is more to our jobs than just reading TAFs and making your lives miserable. (You guys seem to think "Pissing Pilots Off 101" is an elective course in DX school)
Click to expand...
You told me when relative to the call; I asked when, time of day.

(actually this is starting to parallel a conversation I had with my own work the other day...)
 
manniax said:
One note on requiring pilots to observe dispatch...it is a good idea in theory, but I have experienced it in practice, and it is a huge PITA to get every pilot at the company observation time. (At my previous airline we only did it with new hires - 2 hours required - and we all got sick of it.) I don't know what the answer is except to say that any interested pilot is always welcome to come observe - but I'd hate to see every pilot in the company be REQUIRED to come observe every year, due to the sheer number of pilots involved. It would be a logistical nightmare.
Click to expand...

I had a pilot I know come in by chance recently and I had the chance to show him a little of the job. In only 15 minutes he was amazed and said he had NO IDEA how complex it can be.

One other thing that pilots never realize, is that dispatch can see when they take directs...they think they can do it secretly on their own. They also don't know that we can ping the aircraft to tell us their current fuel without them knowing. When they learn, they get so surprised and sometimes seem scared about it. haha
 
Autothrust Blue said:
You told me when relative to the call; I asked when, time of day.

(actually this is starting to parallel a conversation I had with my own work the other day...)
Click to expand...

It was in the evening....I work the night shift, remember. It doesnt matter what time of day it was....delaying a flight for fatigue or a meal break when you have been on duty exactly 3 HOURS is assinine. And it wasnt a short overnight for them either.
 
Krystal said:
It was in the evening....I work the night shift, remember. It doesnt matter what time of day it was....delaying a flight for fatigue or a meal break when you have been on duty exactly 3 HOURS is assinine. And it wasnt a short overnight for them either.
Click to expand...

Very easy to say that from an air conditioned room in SOC. Flying the line is not an easy job physically.
 
Krystal said:
It was in the evening....I work the night shift, remember. It doesnt matter what time of day it was....delaying a flight for fatigue or a meal break when you have been on duty exactly 3 HOURS is assinine. And it wasnt a short overnight for them either.
Click to expand...
I was going to reply then dasleben did it for me.
 
dasleben said:
Very easy to say that from an air conditioned room in SOC. Flying the line is not an easy job physically.
Click to expand...

Yes, pilots are Studly Studs and us lowly dispatchers should NEVER question any of their vast Godlike pilot-making decision capabilities. I'm sorry but that's what your posts have been coming across sounding like. If you don't like the topics being discussed here - I'm sure there are lots of pilot forums that will reinforce your beliefs.

Please remember that dispatchers do have to observe flight deck operations at least once a year - and sure, things can be busy for some of that time but at cruise altitude? Demanding physically? Please. "Whew, I just had to change frequencies and press a button to send a position report. Man, my hand is tired."

Also, if you think all the dispatchers are kicked back in an "air conditioned room" on a bad weather day - feel free to come observe your SOC at some point, preferably on a day with lots of thunderstorms impacting one of your hub airports. It may change your mind.
 
manniax said:
Please remember that dispatchers do have to observe flight deck operations at least once a year - and sure, things can be busy for some of that time but at cruise altitude? Demanding physically? Please. "Whew, I just had to change frequencies and press a button to send a position report. Man, my hand is tired."
Click to expand...

Your credibility was shattered with this paragraph. Observe more.

Your butt isn't in the seat, so your butt shouldn't be telling pilots that they aren't fatigued or hungry.
 
And if you think Im joking, I side with Manniax. You come sit your arse in my seat on a bad thunderstorm day and process the umpteenth reroute for me so I can go pee for the first time since my shift started. We dont get to "fatigue" out when the phone calls are coming every 30 seconds and the ACARS messages are coming faster than we can click on them.
 
dasleben said:
Your credibility was shattered with this paragraph. Observe more.

Your butt isn't in the seat, so your butt shouldn't be telling pilots that they aren't fatigued or hungry.
Click to expand...


You just answered your own question. When was the last time you sat with a dispatcher for their entire shift...not just for 5 minutes on your indoc day? And not on a reduced schedule on a perfect wx day? Not recently? Then take your own advice. Observe more.
 
Krystal said:
You just answered your own question. When was the last time you sat with a dispatcher for their entire shift...not just for 5 minutes on your indoc day? And not on a reduced schedule on a perfect wx day? Not recently? Then take your own advice. Observe more.
Click to expand...

I have, but I'm not whining about dispatchers. You guys do a fine job.

What's making me scratch my head is why you guys are all bent out of shape about things that aren't even your responsibility. As a dispatcher, you're jointly responsible with the PIC for preflight planning and aircraft dispatch. Beyond that, the responsibility is on the PIC. No need to stick your nose where it doesn't belong.
 
dasleben said:
I have, but I'm not whining about dispatchers. You guys do a fine job.

What's making me scratch my head is why you guys are all bent out of shape about things that aren't even your responsibility. As a dispatcher, you're jointly responsible with the PIC for preflight planning and aircraft dispatch. Beyond that, the responsibility is on the PIC. No need to stick your nose where it doesn't belong.
Click to expand...

Tell that to the next one of my pilots who sends me an acars inflight asking for new burns.
 
Krystal said:
Ill remember that when Im on hour 13 because my relief didnt show up and I havent been up from my desk in 8.
Click to expand...

Well, I just finished a 10 day trip with multiple trips between North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. Many of the legs were redeyes. I just got home, and I'm destroyed. Have been for the past few days, even.

But, I'm sorry about your lack of a pee break. A dispatcher telling the crew that they shouldn't delay for fatigue or hunger would go over poorly here. Can't speak about your company. Maybe PIC authority there has been beat into nonexistence.
 
Krystal said:
Tell that to the next one of my pilots who sends me an acars inflight asking for new burns.
Click to expand...

I'm talking about your actual decision making responsibilities after the preflight phase, not your basic duties as a dispatcher.
 
dasleben said:
Well, I just finished a 10 day trip with multiple trips between North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. Many of the legs were redeyes. I just got home, and I'm destroyed. Have been for the past few days, even.

But, I'm sorry about your lack of a pee break. A dispatcher telling the crew that they shouldn't delay for fatigue or hunger would go over poorly here. Can't speak about your company. Maybe PIC authority there has been beat into nonexistence.
Click to expand...

Youre not getting any sympathy from our side. Whining that youre hungry after 3 hours when I havent eaten in 12 isnt going to make me feel sorry for you.
 
dasleben said:
Your credibility was shattered with this paragraph. Observe more.

Your butt isn't in the seat, so your butt shouldn't be telling pilots that they aren't fatigued or hungry.
Click to expand...

My problem was that, even after hearing the facts (crew had only been on duty for three hours, had started in the middle of the day) you still sided with the captain by bringing up the "physically demanding" nature of flying. Yes, perhaps it sucks that the crew had to do a swap when they were planning to go get food - but I don't think that it was an excuse to take a delay. That being said, nowhere in the original post did it say the dispatcher told the crew they couldn't go get food, either...

As far as observing more, I do try and observe flights in different areas that I dispatch (so far I've done domestic a few times, Europe twice, Mexico once, Carribean once, and Hawaii last year) but I only go observe and ride up front when I am getting compensated for it. The company does give me some extra days for observing long haul flights, but once a year is all they pay me for. I'm sure that if you were required to observe a shift in SOCC, you'd want to be compensated for your time as well. Still, having been doing this job over 15 years, I've observed cockpit ops many times, at many different airlines, and I know it can be challenging! However I don't think it's "physically demanding" on the level of doing something like construction or landscaping.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top