Presented to:

By:

Date:

Federal AviationAdministration

Federal AviationAdministration

Automation and

the Dispatcher

The key to

operational control

NASA Airline Operations Workshop

Jim Jansen

August 2, 2016

Federal AviationAdministration

In the beginning

2

Federal AviationAdministration

This presentation is in 3 parts

• 1. What the dispatcher does

• 2. How they do it.

• 3. What could possibly go wrong?

3

Federal AviationAdministration

Part 1

What the dispatcher does.

4

Federal AviationAdministration

Primary purpose

•SAFETY• By providing shared operational control

5

Federal AviationAdministration

Secondary

The focal point for the economics of

day-to-day airline operations

6

Federal AviationAdministration

What is operational control?

• With respect to a flight, it is defined in

regulation as:

• The exercise of authority over initiating,

conducting, or terminating a flight.

7

Federal AviationAdministration

Responsibility for operational control

• Regulations specify the entity responsible

for operational control in Part 121

operations is the Certificate Holder.

8

Federal AviationAdministration

Responsibility for operational control

• In Part 121 Domestic and Flag operations,

the pilot in command and the aircraft

dispatcher are jointly responsible for the:

• Preflight planning,

• Delay, and

• Dispatch release

9

Federal AviationAdministration

Responsibility for operational control

• The aircraft dispatcher is responsible for:

• Monitoring the progress of each flight,

• Issuing necessary information for the safety of

the flight, and

• Cancelling or redispatching the flight if, in his

opinion or the opinion of the pilot in command,

the flight cannot operate or continue to operate

safely as planned or released. (14 CFR

121.533)

10

Federal AviationAdministration

Preflight planning

• Where does the dispatcher get information

for preflight planning ?

11

Federal AviationAdministration

Preflight planning

12

Federal AviationAdministration

Preflight planning (cont.)

• 1. The aircraft:

a) Is it airworthy?

b) Are there any MEL/CDLs effecting performance?

c) Is it the correct configuration for the operation?

2. Payload

a) passenger load

b) bags

c) cargo – includes restricted articles if applicable

13

Federal AviationAdministration

Preflight planning (cont.)

• 3. Weather/NOTAMS

a) departure weather/NOTAMS

b) enroute weather/NOTAMS:

winds, turbulence, convective activity

c) destination weather/NOTAMS

d) alternate weather?NOTAMS:

(includes enroute alternates)

14

Federal AviationAdministration

Preflight planning (cont.)

• 4. Fuel planning

a) Domestic fuel requirements

b) International fuel requiremnets

c) ETOPS fuel requirements

d) Economic fuel (tankering)

15

Federal AviationAdministration

Preflight planning (cont.)

• 5. ATC

a) departure delays/coded departure routes

b) SWAP routes

c) Military Operations Areas (MOAs)

d) Ground Delay Initiatives

e) TFRs

16

Federal AviationAdministration

Preflight planning (cont.)

• 6. Crew

a) Captain restricted (less than 100 hours PIC)?

b) fit for duty?

c) qualified for route to be flown

17

Federal AviationAdministration

Prefight planning (cont.)

• 7. Security bulletins

a) government issued

b) company issued

18

Federal AviationAdministration

Part 2

How they do it

19

Federal AviationAdministration

A TRIP IN THE WAYBACK MACHINE

20

Federal AviationAdministration

1960s

21

Federal AviationAdministration

1975

22

Federal AviationAdministration

1975 (cont.)

23

Federal AviationAdministration

1981

24

Federal AviationAdministration

1981 (cont.)

25

Federal AviationAdministration

1981 (cont.)

26

Federal AviationAdministration

1981 (cont.)

27

Federal AviationAdministration

1990

28

Federal AviationAdministration

1990

29

Federal AviationAdministration

The internet age

30

Federal AviationAdministration

2016

31

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

32

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

33

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

34

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

35

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

36

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

37

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

38

Federal AviationAdministration

2016 (cont.)

39

Federal AviationAdministration

Part 3

• What could possibly go wrong?

40

Federal AviationAdministration

41

Federal AviationAdministration

GIGO

• Over reliance on automation

42

Federal AviationAdministration

Lost in the shuffle

Too many applications running at the same

time.

43

Federal AviationAdministration

How many actions are needed?

• Programs that do not interface.

44

Federal AviationAdministration

Tactical vs strategic

• Pilots and dispatchers not working with the

same information.

45

Federal AviationAdministration

Automation is not failsafe

• Automation that can fail or be disabled.

46

Federal AviationAdministration

July 21-23

47

Federal AviationAdministration

Military controlling GPS

• ADDITIONALLY, DUE TO GPS

INTERFERENCE IMPACTS POTENTIALLY

AFFECTING EMBRAER PHENOM 300

AIRCRAFT FLIGHT STABILITY CONTROLS,

FAA RECOMMENDS EMBRAER PHENOM

PILOTS AVOID THE ABOVE TESTING AREA

AND CLOSELY MONITOR FLIGHT

CONTROL SYSTEMS DUE TO POTENTIAL

LOSS OF GPS SIGNAL. DLY 0430-1200

1606090430-1606111200

48

Federal AviationAdministration

Loss of situational awareness

49

Federal AviationAdministration

AOC shutdowns

50

Federal AviationAdministration

Challenges ahead

• Designing programs for workload

distribution

• Reducing delays

• Improving fuel usage

• Creating redundancy

51

Federal AviationAdministration

Questions?

• Remember, lunch is the next item on the agenda

52