Opsbod;
I appreciate your comments. They show a strong grounding in experience and knowledge about the issues of ops control/flight dispatch. The following comments are given in acknowledgment and respect of that.
I do have to disagree on a number of issues that you raised, however.
1. Training is good, and helps, but by itself just won't do it. Without certification, authority and communications for flight dispatchers, the European system will remain crippled. Crews will not get the proper information that they need and errors of judgment will continue to be made.
2. Cost is a weak issue. A proper system with Flight dispatchers saves fuel, delays and diversions, not to mention accidents.
3. European flight crews are not much different from flight crews around the world. They all want to be PIC and many are resistant to change. But if a safer system exists then it should be implemented. The passenger's safety is more important than the "culture" of the crew. A proper dispatch system also protects the crews from management pressure.
4. Each individual flight dispatcher needs to be certified, otherwise there is no personal accountability. They might as well not be there, if they cannot take action when needed.
5. On the wx incidents. They were not "freak". They were predictable. Sometimes airborne radar is affected by "attenuation" where one return hides a more severe return behind it. But multiple ground based radar sites usually will pick it up. As FEBA points out, flight dispatchers in the US, Canada, etc do routinely route flights around this type of hazard.
With the BMI incident, not only did the aircraft hit the severe wx/hail, but then the crew continued on for hundreds of kilometres with a badly damaged aircraft, passing by many suitable airports. Not something that I would condone.
6. The Hapag Lloyd situation did have a German certified dispatcher, but this just proves my point about a complete system. He had no authority or responsibility whatsoever to intervene with the flight. In the US an exact parallel happened with an A300 with gear down, and the flight dispatcher worked with the crew, corrected errors that they had made, and the flight landed safely at its destination with reserve fuel. And the crew was thankful for it. But the German PIC is under criminal charges. Again, a proper dispatch system supports the passengers and the flight crew. The Hapag Lloyd pilot did not get the support he needed.
7. What the JAR requires for flight dispatch is basically pathetic. No certification for flight dispatchers, no authority, no communiciations. And yet there have been a significant number of accidents/incidents with fuel exhaustion/emergencies and severe weather hazards. It reminds me of the Concorde situation where that aircraft had a significant number of incidents which showed the vulnerability of the tires/fuel tanks/engines. The ops control/dispatch system in Europe is similarly vulnerable.
I just don't think that European passengers should have to accept a much lower standard of safety.
The Chinese, Emirates, Malaysians, Canadians, and the US have all adopted the higher standard.
I think that the Europeans should at least have what the Chinese have.