Why I would NEVER recommend the Dispatcher school I went to

[LX Sport]

Amen. When I was at IFOD my day started at 8am and ended at 1230 - 1am everyday. Plus at least 6 hours on the weekends. I passed my practical with no problem on the first go around and same with the oral/practical.

As the instructor told us one day it used to be 8-weeks,but the FAA shrank it down to its current length. That it was two years of info in a month basically.

The FAA doesnt govern how many weeks a program needs to be. Just that you must have a minimum of 200 hours. I went to a 12 week school. Which worked great cause it was local, and I was working a full time job at the same time. What school you went to means nothing in the long run. Like tommy said, we all get the same license.

 

[Flagship_dxer]

My dispatch school is better than yours! Yours sucks! All the other school's students suck at being pro dispatchers!

 

[DispatcherSam]

My dispatch school is better than yours! Yours sucks! All the other school's students suck at being pro dispatchers!

I paid extra for the premium dispatch license.

 

[av8or757]

The FAA doesnt govern how many weeks a program needs to be. Just that you must have a minimum of 200 hours. I went to a 12 week school. Which worked great cause it was local, and I was working a full time job at the same time. What school you went to means nothing in the long run. Like tommy said, we all get the same license.

Probably should have just said 'When I was in dispatch school.' I only mentioned the name of the school because the poster I was quoting also attended said school. So my post out as..."Yeah when I was at xyz school."

My whole point was basically how my typical days went in school more than what school I went to.

You have no argument from me on what difference it makes.

As far as the hours required for the license in the past I may have misunderstood it to have been greater thus the 8 weeks. There is a local JC here that offer it in two years. A few express pilots got there pilots there as well.

 

[Flying Saluki]

The original poster was simply stating his experience with a certain school. No response or rebuttal is required. Those that are interested will dig a little deeper. Those that already have their license won't care.

The measure of a "good" school is not found in the graduation rate, but in the efforts made to help the struggling student(s) graduate.

 

[LX Sport]

Probably should have just said 'When I was in dispatch school.' I only mentioned the name of the school because the poster I was quoting also attended said school. So my post out as..."Yeah when I was at xyz school."

My whole point was basically how my typical days went in school more than what school I went to.

You have no argument from me on what difference it makes.

As far as the hours required for the license in the past I may have misunderstood it to have been greater thus the 8 weeks. There is a local JC here that offer it in two years. A few express pilots got there pilots there as well.

Sorry. I was really just replying to your "the FAA..." part. Wasnt trying to call attention to the rest of your post, the rest of my reply was towards the entire thread...formatting fail on my part, I'm afraid.

 

[Bigworm19]

I attended Sheffield, I did their online course followed by 2 weeks of in class training. The online course was put together well, material and website were easy to follow. But there were issues. Obviously if you do an online course it's bc you didn't have the time to attend a 5 week course. I understand that the instructors are busy, and he tried to get back to me as soon as possible, but it wasn't always convenient. I was a father of 3, working, trying to do the work in the time I had to meet there dead lines and it was tough to wait on him. A few times I went ahead to do some work bc I had the time and he threatened to kick me out of the program. Just not very flexible.

I want to say I learned a whole lot at Sheffield, but I wouldn't recommend their program to anyone who hasn't had any kind of flying experience. There's just to much information they try to cram in and expect you to know, and not enough time. When I got there to do my 2 weeks, you're trying to learn FAR's verbatim, approach charts, planning, ALTN mins, systems, it's a lot to learn if you've never seen them before, like myself. I was so busy learning those, I wasn't up to par with the WX charts they expect you to know prior to arriving, which was crazy in itself. After missing a few WX questions in the review to advance to take your FAA oral/practical, he would not sign me off to take the exam even tho I could have went home that night and probably remembered the next day.

I did feel their program was more about the money. I felt they could have been more professional, less arrogant, more flexible, and act like they actually cared if you passed or not.

I must however reiterate, even tho my instructor was a jerk, he was very knowledgable, knew his stuff, and was great in the classroom teaching the material. I just wouldn't recommend going if you have no experience.

 

[Flying Saluki]

The irony is that there is no need to attend a dispatch school at all. The Practical Test Standards lay out everything you need to know, and where to find the information. If you meet the experience requirements of 65.57, you can self study and take the exam(s)

 

[Luigi]

The irony is that there is no need to attend a dispatch school at all. The Practical Test Standards lay out everything you need to know, and where to find the information. If you meet the experience requirements of 65.57, you can self study and take the exam(s)

I'm pretty sure you need a instructors approval to take the exam.

 

[Burrito]

I'm pretty sure you need a instructors approval to take the exam.

Eager 23-year-old: DAD CAN I GO TAKE THE PRACTICAL NOW?? I PASSED THE ADX!!
Dad, reading the paper: "Huh?....yeah, okay honey, that's fine." (sips the coffee and returns to paper)

 

[Flying Saluki]

I'm pretty sure you need a instructors approval to take the exam.

The only requirement to take the written exam is to be at least 21 years old. FAR 65.53

 

[Burrito]

Yeah, but 23 made more sense in my head for hiring purposes. Ah well, all in good fun!

 

[MT]

I'm pretty sure you need a instructors approval to take the exam.

If you meet the experience requirements in 65.57 then you can take both the ADX and then practical. There is no instructor sign off needed.

Your chances of passing without taking a class are another story altogether. It is here that accelerated and blended/online courses make sense because one then has prior knowledge of about 69% of the material and just needs to learn the dispatch specific stuff and knock the rust off the other stuff. They are not intended to be used for a guy off the street with no prior knowledge who doesn't have the time to commit to a 5-6 week course. You're setting yourself up for failure in this case.

 

[av8or757]

Sorry. I was really just replying to your "the FAA..." part. Wasnt trying to call attention to the rest of your post, the rest of my reply was towards the entire thread...formatting fail on my part, I'm afraid.

No problems. I think sometimes what we text,write or print may come across differently rather then if we were hearing a person or face to face. My apologies as maybe I was too quick to give a response.

 

[Flagship_dxer]

After missing a few WX questions in the review to advance to take your FAA oral/practical, he would not sign me off to take the exam even tho I could have went home that night and probably remembered the next day.

This is a bunch of BS. You pay a bunch of money for a course and the owner of the course won't let you take an exam that does not even require an instructor to sign you off? Sounds like a scam to me. It should be more of a recommendation from the owner to the student to maybe wait until taking the exam instead of not letting the student. This is dispatch. Its a challenging profession but its not rocket science or medicine. Failing people out of dispatch school does not make your dispatch school any better than the rest. It just makes more people angry at your business model. You rarely see people on here complaining about the other dispatch schools. No doubt Sheffield teaches a lot of good dispatchers and they have good teachers. But they shouldn't try to make this profession into something it is not and they should be about trying to help the customer meet their goal. A customer who fails isn't a happy one.

 

[MT]

This is a bunch of BS. You pay a bunch of money for a course and the owner of the course won't let you take an exam that does not even require an instructor to sign you off? Sounds like a scam to me. It should be more of a recommendation from the owner to the student to maybe wait until taking the exam instead of not letting the student. This is dispatch. Its a challenging profession but its not rocket science or medicine. Failing people out of dispatch school does not make your dispatch school any better than the rest. It just makes more people angry at your business model. You rarely see people on here complaining about the other dispatch schools. No doubt Sheffield teaches a lot of good dispatchers and they have good teachers. But they shouldn't try to make this profession into something it is not and they should be about trying to help the customer meet their goal. A customer who fails isn't a happy one.

False. If you attend a dispatch school then you do need to be signed off by the school to take the practical. The only time you don't need a sign off is if you qualify under 65.57. Otherwise, you need a statement of graduation from an approved dispatch school to sit with the feds.

The school is well within their right to not issue a statement of graduation (sign off) if they feel the student will not pass with the FAA. They too have to protect their 80% pass rate with the FAA. In this case, lets say that the student went home and crammed. A good DADE is going to see right though that and ask the questions that he did not cram for. If by some chance, he does slides through the practical then I feel sorry for the airline that has a dispatcher that has forgotten what he crammed for and now doesn't have the basic dispatch knowledge and has to be retrained.

What is a stupider business decision? Upsetting a few students here and there that were not up to speed who then come and cry foul on an internet forum or letting them through to the FAA to make them happy, have them fail which then makes them unhappy, and end up losing your FAA certification and business?

 

[Flagship_dxer]

The school is well within their right to not issue a statement of graduation (sign off) if they feel the student will not pass with the FAA. They too have to protect their 80% pass rate with the FAA. In this case, lets say that the student went home and crammed. A good DADE is going to see right though that and ask the questions that he did not cram for. If by some chance, he does slides through the practical then I feel sorry for the airline that has a dispatcher that has forgotten what he crammed for and now doesn't have the basic dispatch knowledge and has to be retrained.

What is a stupider business decision? Upsetting a few students here and there that were not up to speed who then come and cry foul on an internet forum or letting them through to the FAA to make them happy, have them fail which then makes them unhappy, and end up losing your FAA certification and business?

Sheffield on their own website is all about playing up this profession as being something it is not. It is an important job that has its difficulties but it is a job that you can train most people to do regardless of where and how they got their license. Sheffield suggests that if someone does not pass their course they should not be signed off by another school or by an airline if another school passes them. To me this goes beyond just protecting the school and speaks to someone who has a belief that failing people and limiting the supply will somehow make the profession more prestigious. Some people learn in different ways. If a student finds success with another school, Sheffield should not imply that student shouldn't be in this profession.

As a business, you can still get to an 80% FAA pass rate without failing 20% or more from the classroom. There is nothing worse than paying a lot of money and getting to the end of a course to be told you failed and you are out. If the person constantly fails and isn't trying at all, I can see a situation where you wouldn't want him to take the test or pass but if the customer is studying hard and is making progress I would think it would be good business to give the customer more time for personal study and to learn the material. Five weeks is a short time to learn this stuff. Sheffield tries to cram more info than other dispatch schools do which means some people who have a higher aptitude for quick learning will do well and those that learn slower will fall behind.

As a business you should want as many of your students to succeed as possible. If they don't succeed with you then you shouldn't have the belief they do not belong in the profession. This profession is all about persistence and learning.

 

[DJ Pop N Lock]

Check out the other schools before you commit .Try Dallas , TX . There are some very good dispatch schools in the Dallas Tx area . It is home to 2 major airlines and some regionals . All have smaller class sizes and have instructors that don't just have the minimum FAA credentials - they have DONE the job . Many instructors work at Southwest and AA . They can offer more outside tutoring and extra time if you need it .They will even come in on Saturday for you . Sheffield will give you an hour after each class and you share that time with a full class of 25 . About half that 25 will stay over and compete with you to try to get help before the instructors close the door at 6pm. If you are an average paced learner - you will need more than an hour to complete homework assignments .Study groups are great but are not guaranteed to help you . Its all on who you make friends with - quickly . Choose wisely and quickly . Make friends during breaks . Bring up study group conversation between breaks . Its very important at Sheffield . Even though Sheffield is the oldest - they may not be the best for your needs .Yes , they have great testimonials and have placed many dispatchers in great careers. Many of my friends have gone to Sheffield and they were very satisfied , But, they many not be for you . Check out the competition. I think that BJJ would have been happier and stuck it out with a smaller class size with more personal instruction during and after class . ADTC , ATC , IFOD and others are newer on the scene but well worth checking out .They also all have job placement. In the end its how you perform on your interviews . Having read BJs blog, I would shop around with YOUR money and see what works for you . If you are an accelerated learner and don't have many questions - Sheffield will absolutely work for you just fine .

Side note - the Dallas area has cheaper hotel extend stay options Many DFW airport hotels already have discounted rates for those of you working in the industry .. FLL is very expensive if you prefer a hotel . By Texas law - if you stay more than than a month - the hotel will knock off the hotel taxes in Texas . The average hotel in FLL/MIA/PBI at certain times of the year is well over 100 a night . The houses Sheffield offers are owned by the instructors - they get about 1500-1800 per room per student - thats steep when you are sharing bathrooms - etc . You may find yourself with a roommate also . Consider this as you make your 5 week commitment .

 

[A-9er]

It all depends on what school makes sense for you. For example, if you have friends or family near one of the schools, then you might want to consider that one to save on living expenses. The gal who sat in front of me did this. She's from Vegas; though Jepps is a lot closer to her, she came to Sheffield. She has friends in the area and was able to stay with them during school and thus save on living expenses; that's worth about two thousand in living expenses.

 

[Aeroscout840]

OP sounds like reasonable person and businesses ignore reasonable people at their peril. That said, consider my story- I Graduated from Sheffield (barely), dispatched at 121 ops for two years. Following that, I was off the desk for a year doing dispatch support. I got hired by a major three years in and thought I was set for life. After 5 months of classroom and ojt I FAILED MY INITIAL CHECK TWICE (three times and you're gone). I wasn't alone in failing the first check. Folks fresh from the regional airlines doing tons of releases a shift, on similar software failed too. In our deal the check rides never stop. Every year you have to defend against failure. Blaming the process, however eruditely is not going to get you to the big show. I sympathize with the OP, and urge him to look at this as a temporary setback. If able go back and finish. Even at 50 years old, landing a job at a major is a multi million dollar lottery ticket. What are you prepared to do?