At the risk of adding to the 'in my day' views my ten penny worth.
In the 30+ years since I training in what was then know as Weight and Balance and is now called Mass and Balance the move to computer calculated and generated documentation has changed the whole face of Load Control. The delights of the drop line, the trim wheel and indicies are all familiar and I was more than happy to learn new systems or new aircraft specifics.
Over many years of creating flight documentation it always surprised me how few flight crew could actually do their own paperwork; this was brought home to me when I had to run training courses (c.1984) for a regional airline to ensure that their crews could do their own paperwork at a European airport where the locals were on strike. It was like having 'new ones' in the office. Yes they understood flight dynamics, yes they understood the limitations but actually doing load and trim calculations in the time frames required was 'challenging' for the vast majority.
Times have moved on.
Departure Control Systems are, in current times, incredibly reliable. The issues for the airlines and the ground handling companies when it comes to training manual mass and balance is the likelihood, or not, of the individual practicing those skill at a level to which they can be maintained. In today's OTP driven market the risks of doing live manual departures at large airports where communications are geared for DCS is not without it's issues. The fail safes in the DCS's will not allow critical mistakes to be made; over weight, out of trim etc. is all flagged if the operator tries to enter incorrect information.
An added advantage of DCS is that the airline can change the basic weights or balance settings for an aircraft which becomes active across their whole network at a stroke; no long winded manual updates, manual update receipts etc.
My view is that all Dispatchers should understand the basics of aerodynamics and the effect of weight on balance. They need to be able to read AND UNDERSTAND the computer generated loading instructions and loadsheets. They also need to be able to cross check these manually.
There will always be a place for Mass and Balance specialists in the small market of specialised cargo carriers or 'one-off' charter market.
I also think that the market will move more and more to centralised load control facilities, especially at the smaller airports. The skills will be concentrated in specialist areas and with competencies maintained.
In todays market the cost of training DCS mass and balance is one of the drivers. The airlines do not want to invest in this and so rely on the integrity of their, or their contracted, computer systems. To add the costs of individuals being trained in an area that they are unlikely to use in their jobs is not something most CEO's or FD's will approve.
In a similar vein, is it fair to compare the skills needed, and the training provided to gather such skills, on todays flightdecks with those required in the 60's and 70's?
This is the industry we are now in.
GH