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The Flight Dispatch Process

Mike Collier / Steve Smith International Flight Dispatch

Cross Polar Working Group May 30th – June 1st 2017

Washington, D.C.

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Early Dispatch History The first dispatchers worked for the Post Office Department during the 1920’s when they contracted with airlines to carry the mail

History

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History

Early Dispatch History As you might imagine, the safety record for the industry during those years was not the best. The loss of aircraft, lives and cargo (especially the US mail), due to mountains, changing weather, and power lines motivated Congress to pass the Civil Aeronautics Act in 1938

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History

Early Dispatch History The Act created an operational control structure consisting of a system of checks and balances which produced the highest level of safety possible for commercial airplane operations. It also created a new airman certification: Aircraft Dispatcher

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Regulations

FAR 121.533 Responsibility for operational control: Domestic Operations The Captain and the Aircraft Dispatcher are jointly responsible for the preflight planning, delay, and dispatch release of a flight. The Aircraft Dispatcher is responsible for • Monitoring the progress of each flight;

• Issuing necessary information for the safety of the flight;

• Cancelling or redispatching a flight if the flight cannot operate or continue to

operate safely as planned or released.

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Regulations

International Differences • While Dispatchers around the world perform the same basic functions, there

are also many differences regarding the level of training required and the regulatory responsibilities of an Aircraft Dispatcher

• Most states do not place the same level of regulatory responsibility on the

Dispatcher as countries like the U.S. and Canada. This is particularly true when it comes to flight monitoring responsibilities

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Pre-Flight Planning

A. Primary Operational Considerations At American Airlines, operational priorities are listed as:

Safety

Customer Service

Economics

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Pre-Flight Planning

B. Aircraft Dispatchers ensure that an aircraft that is authorized (per operations specifications) is assigned to the flight Dispatchers also monitor aircraft serviceability Including: Maintenance Status Minimum Equipment List Future Maintenance Requirements

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Pre-Flight Planning

C. Crew Legalities Dispatchers monitor crewmember duty time limits with regard to regulations and labor contracts Ensure that the planned flight is compliant with crewmember training (i.e. polar routings)

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Pre-Flight Planning

D. Airports, Route, and Fuel Load Current weather conditions (METARs) and forecasts (TAFs) for all airports involved in a flight are continuously monitored. Airports include the flights origin and destination, as well as any alternate airports (destination, driftdown and ETOPS) Very specific weather minimums must be maintained throughout the flight for each of these airports Airport surface conditions are checked and analyzed (water, snow, ice etc.) NOTAMs are analyzed for each airport (closed runways, inoperative approach facilities, etc.)

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Pre-Flight Planning

D. Airports, Route, and Fuel Load Routing is determined considering enroute winds and weather conditions (turbulence, convection, etc.) Enroute costs such as ATC charges are also considered Routing requirements vary state by state which require compliance, as well as any published or unpublished requirements AND…

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Pre-Flight Planning

D. Airports, Route, and Fuel Load Let us not forget the NOTAMS!!

CZWG x5 CZEG x8 PAZA x7

UHMM x5

UEEE x1

UELL x1

UIII x8

ZMUB x1

ZBPE x3

ZHWH x3

ZGZU x10 Dallas to Hong Kong – 52 Pages of NOTAMS

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Pre-Flight Planning

D. Airports, Route, and Fuel Load Fuel load is determined based on regulatory requirements for the type of operation (domestic or international), aircraft performance, enroute considerations, and airport conditions

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Pre-Flight Planning

D. Airports, Route, and Fuel Load Once all of this is done, a Dispatch Release is issued and a flight plan transmitted to the ANSPs and other interested parties. Although there are ICAO standards, each ANSP tends to have their own “exceptions” that an operator must comply with. These exceptions are increasingly becoming an issue

• i.e. numerous additions to field 18 requirements

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Enroute Flight Monitoring

E. Flight Monitoring In the United States regulatory environment (as well as other countries), the joint responsibility for operational control between the Pilot in Command and Dispatcher continues until the flight arrives a its destination. Transmitting a flight plan and Dispatch Release is not the end of the process, it’s really the beginning! (Not “fire and forget!”)

FAR 121.533 Responsibility for operational control: Domestic Operations The Captain and the Aircraft Dispatcher are jointly responsible for the preflight planning, delay, and dispatch release of a flight. The Aircraft Dispatcher is responsible for • Monitoring the progress of each flight;

• Issuing necessary information for the safety of the flight;

• Cancelling or redispatching a flight if the flight cannot operate or continue to operate safely as planned or released.

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When Good Flights Go Bad

F. Contingencies Weather

Mechanical

Large Scale Disruptions

Hub Weather, Tropical and Winter Weather Events

Other Security, Infrastructure, etc.

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When Good Flights Go Bad

F. Contingencies Weather

While forecasting has become more reliable, weather is still unpredictable. As part of ‘joint responsibility for operational control’, Dispatchers are tasked with keeping their flights updated with the most current conditions enroute as well as at the destination and alternate airports When the weather doesn’t cooperate, the Dispatcher and PIC must come up with an alternative plan of action. This may be as simple as changing an alternate, but could (and often does) involve diverting to a different airport when necessary

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When Good Flights Go Bad

F. Contingencies Mechanical

Other disruptions may come in the form of mechanical or medical diversions During these events, the Dispatcher is tasked with coordinating any communications with resources on the ground such as Maintenance Control, medical providers, station personnel and other interested departments The Dispatcher and PIC come up with a plan for dealing with the event. Thereafter the Dispatcher becomes the primary coordinator for the response

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When Good Flights Go Bad

F. Contingencies Large Scale Disruptions / Other

Large scale disruptions such as winter or tropical weather systems, civil unrest, infrastructure outages, etc., the airline operations center management will generally come up with a coordinated response for the airline It is generally the responsibility of the Dispatch group to execute the response with regard to flight operations

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Dispatch Tools

G. Desk Applications

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Dispatch Tools

G. Desk Applications

IOC Dispatch Desk Configuration

Screen Printer

Line Of Flight Display System

SABRE DECS WSI Fusion

AVTEC Radio-Telephone

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Flight Timeline

D- 1 to 3 days • Aircraft routings determined primarily based on

maintenance requirements

D- 4 to 6 Hours • Optimum route of flight options are determined and

preliminary weight and balance figures are initialized

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D- 90 Minutes To 4 Hours • Final routing is determined based on: Winds Enroute Weather ATC Costs Payload and Fuel Restrictions Regulatory Requirements NOTAMs Other Route Limitations From ATC, ATM Measures, etc. Any Aircraft Restrictions (MEL) Are Applied

Flight Timeline

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D- 60 to 120 Minutes • Flight release is issued and flight plan filed with ATC

Flight Timeline

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Prior To Departure • Dispatcher will react to any issues that may arise.

• Most often in the form of delays due to weather,

mechanical, or passenger service issues

Flight Timeline

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After Departure • Dispatcher will continue to monitor and react to issues such as

weather changes, ATC reroutes, changing field conditions, or anything else that could affect the safety of flight

Flight Timeline

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Workload QUALITY CONTROL DISPLAY 3 5 FLT DPT-ARV ALT ALT HLD ADF MEL CA A/C RAF FF DISPATCHER 5 253/29 LAX-OGG JRF 000 000 000 000 858 000 N 127/29 DFW-PVG SHA 000 000 000 000 8AW 125 281/29 DFW-ICN GMP 000 000 000 000 8LE 000 271/29 LAX-OGG 153/29 ORD-NRT 169/29 LAX-NRT END-OF-DISPLAY

QUALITY CONTROL DISPLAY 3 5 FLT DPT-ARV ALT ALT HLD ADF MEL CA A/C RAF FF DISPATCHER 5 48/29 DFW-CDG 786/29 CLT-CDG 754/29 PHL-CDG 62/29 MIA-CDG 146/29 BOS-CDG 150/29 ORD-CDG 78/29 DFW-LHR 120/29 JFK-CDG 80/29 DFW-LHR END-OF-DISPLAY

Pacific AM

European PM

Dispatcher workload for a 9 hour shift Pacific AM Shift: ~6 Flights European PM Shift: ~9 Flights

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QUALITY CONTROL DISPLAY 3 5 FLT DPT-ARV ALT ALT HLD ADF MEL CA A/C RAF FF DISPATCHER 5 1108/29 ICT-DFW DAL 025 013 000 000 4YD 093 2224/29 MSY-ORD N/R 035 030 000 000 3BM 091 * 1934/29 CLT-AUS DFW 030 013 000 000 103 109 N 2330/29 SAN-DFW N/R 040 015 000 000 998 086 1040/29 SNA-DFW N/R 040 015 000 000 3NA 070 2506/29 DFW-SNA ONT 025 012 000 000 3NB 000 * 1969/29 PHX-ORD N/R 022 000 000 000 163 000 * 1342/29 SNA-DFW N/R 040 012 000 000 3LH 000 1214/29 SAN-PHL BDL RIC 040 015 007 000 3GL 000 2250/29 DFW-LAX ONT 025 012 000 000 850 000 N 553/29 PHX-SNA ONT 012 000 000 000 760 000 * 1721/29 LAX-AUS SAT 013 010 000 000 802 000 146/29 LAX-BOS 244/29 SNA-DFW 1560/29 DFW-SNA 2571/29 ORD-PSP 593/29 PHX-ORD 2533/29 DFW-FAT 2701/29 SNA-DFW 1310/29 ORD-MSY

QUALITY CONTROL DISPLAY 3 5 FLT DPT-ARV ALT ALT HLD ADF MEL CA A/C RAF FF DISPATCHER 5 706/29 LAX-IND 1648/29 AUS-CLT 644/29 CLT-AUS 1599/29 DFW-SNA 710/29 PHX-ORD 720/29 DFW-CLT 2587/29 PSP-ORD 2052/29 AUS-CLT 622/29 CLT-SFO 1739/29 CLT-AUS 1688/29 SAN-DFW 1288/29 PHX-ORD 1721/29 AUS-LAX 1119/29 DFW-SNA 2664/29 LAX-AUS 1095/29 SAN-DFW 1310/29 MSY-ORD 202/29 LAX-BOS 2192/29 ORD-DCA 1696/29 DFW-SAN 1309/29 DFW-FAT 1599/29 SNA-DFW 2577/29 CLT-AUS END-OF-DISPLAY

Domestic AM

Workload

Dispatcher workload for a 9 hour shift Domestic AM Shift: ~45 Flights Domestic PM Shift: ~25 Flights

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Workload

Airborne

Taxiing to runway at departure airport Planned - Delayed Planned - Pre-departure

Pre-planning

Dispatchers may have 15 or more flights airborne at any given moment, plus many more in various phases of flight or stages of planning

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Questions