EASA and Flt Dispatchers

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JB007 well done with the sticky thing. I am/was really surprised at the lack of response to the orignal posting. In fact it still doesn't seem to be getting the views that it deserves, perhaps a change of title?

Opsbod very pleased to hear UKOMA and the Chairman has taken hold of this one.Talk soon.


For what its worth, my view;


ICAO recommends the licensing of FOO/FD’s. Implicit in that recommendation is the recognition that the duties of FOO/FD’s have a flight safety implication and as such, there is requirement for airline operational personnel to be trained to standard which will ensure operational competence. This requirement must be part of any future European EASA regulations. It must be embodied in all Air Operators (AO) Operations and Manuals (part D).

This however, does not imply that EASA must adopt the US FAR121 style of flight release and joint dispatch authority. This is often confused with the licensing question and has led to much resistance in Europe to the licensing of FOO/FD’s.

What we need in Europe is a common standard for the training of FOO/FD’s and a means of accreditation which is recognized EASA and by each member state, it need not be in the form of a formal license. Although I personally support that, I have little hope of industry and NAA wide acceptance for such a relatively small number of operational personnel.

My recommendations can be summarized as follows:

• Establish a requirement for the qualification of FOO/FD’s to a minimum European (EASA) standard before they can exercise operational control on the behalf of a European state AOC. Accreditation or Qualification being the completion of a recognized course and the passing of exams to FCL equivalent standards and pass marks. Not a license necessarily, but a flight operations qualification which is recognized within EASA and holds that status.

• Adopt ICAO Doc 7192 D3 as the training syllabus and standard or produce an EASA equivalent, update the syllabus to include European requirements and new technologies.

• Establish a requirement for all FOO/FD training organizations to hold EASA or National Aviation Authority (NAA) approval.

• Do not leave it to the airlines to do their own training. Unless, as with TRTO’s, they have an accredited training organization approved to conduct FOO/FD training.

• As with flight crew licensing, a JAR ATPL covers all aircraft types, so the FOO/FD’s minimum standard should cover all types of air operations and not tailored to suit individual airlines requirements or operations, it must be a generic syllabus.


Flight safety is enhanced by having high levels of competence at each link in the operational chain, FOO/FD’s have long been neglected in many European states and it behooves EASA to rule in favour of a requirement which introduces a pan European standard and qualification for Flight Operations Officers/Flight Dispatchers