It is my opinion that the European system of Operations Control/Dispatch is overdue for an overhaul and a set of standards for training should be enforced across the region.
Both nosig and I have frequently pushed the requirement for the training of Operations staff and dispatchers and I hope that this will become a requirement.
However, I doubt licensing will become a reality, it has been lobbied for on national levels in several European countries, but the bean counters, the airlines and the pilot community at large have resisted both licensing and the concept of join responsibility. I suspect that for the airlines cost is a major issue, to train all of an airlines operations control staff to FAA licence level would run to thousands of pounds/euros. For European flight crews the concept of shared responsibility and its advantages are completely alien and totally misunderstood.
20-17
“1/ Does this mean that all staff dealing with ops / dispatch need to be licensed or can it just be the supervisor / DO on duty?”
This is one of the points up for discussion, but it is my understanding that Hapag-Lloyd had a DFS licensed dispatcher on duty as a supervisor at the time of the A310 fuel incident, and this did not prevent the incident.
My belief is that all Operations Control staff should be trained to the same level, the Supervisors should then be trained to manage.
Kellmark
“BMI A321, Over Germany, May, 2003, encountered severe weather/ hail, serious damage, aircraft continued for hundreds of kilometres before landing.
EasyJet B737 Geneva, August, 2003, encountered severe weather/hail, serious damage.”
In both instances it is highly unlikely that an FAA dispatcher could have prevented these incidents, both incidents are the result of freak weather that did not even appear on the aircraft weather radar until it was too late.
“None of these flights had the support of a proper operational control/dispatch system”
If by “proper” you mean they did not have an FAA style dispatch cover, no they did not. All of the airlines involved provide the level of operational control JAR requires, the question should be – is that level of control sufficient?
That said, despite the examples, I won’t argue with points 1 to 4.
As an individual I am pro-recognised training and qualifications for operations and dispatch staff. At present I believe joint responsibility is an unreasonable expectation for the short term, our objective as professionals should be first to have recognised and agreed standards of training and meet them.