Celestar;
“No safety issue here”. You do indeed have a sense of humour. (Notice the English spelling).
Yes, Pilots should check and double-check their flight plans, fuel figures, weather and alternates prior to departure. 99.99% of them do it properly. .01% do not. Do you want to be on that flight?
You say that these pilots would make a mistake if they had a certified dispatcher because they would rely more on the dispatcher and believe that he/she would do the work properly. That this would then create a safety issue. Let me get this straight. You think that it is less safe to have better qualified people doing preflight planning? I will let that speak for itself.
I have great respect for what pilots do. But we are all human. They do not walk on water, although some of them might think that they do. They can make mistakes. And they will continue to make mistakes, just as we will, as we are all human. And when they make a mistake it can have severe consequences. I have seen highly experienced pilots whom I greatly respected make some of these mistakes. In some cases I was able to help them and prevent an incident or accident. In other cases, they showed me where I was making a mistake, so that was prevented as well. And I appreciated their contribution, as they appreciated mine.
Let’s also not ignore the fact that most of them are under pressure to operate the flights in a deregulated, highly competitive environment. This makes it more difficult for a pilot to refuse a situation which they might not feel comfortable with. Some have been fired for refusing a flight. With a PIC/dispatcher joint responsibility system it takes away most of that pressure as each can back the other in their decision.
What you don’t talk about is perhaps the most serious problem in European ops control/flight dispatch, and that is the lack of in-flight monitoring. Many air carriers in Europe simply don’t track and don’t know where their flights are at a given time and have no one assigned to provide information to the flight crew while they are enroute. And they couldn’t communicate with them if they wanted to, as many don’t have a communication system. This at a time when the European operational situation is more dynamic and more complex than ever. The weather has become more volatile and hazardous, the ATC situation is changing, the flight crews tend to have less experience than in previous times and the security threat is more serious than ever.
It is simply not acceptable to have this situation exist and not call it a safety problem.
You want to shorten the training that is given if there would be a requirement for licensing. That makes sense on its face, but in fact the need for training at each airline is greater with a proper flight dispatch system because the flight dispatcher has much more responsibility. They are much more than simply a flight planner. They are truly a partner with the Pilot-In Command and must have a similar level of knowledge to him/her. But it is this certification and training that creates the bedrock of the system and makes it much safer and more effective. But it is also more efficient as qualified, certified flight dispatchers can flight plan more effectively, save fuel, save delays, diversions and generally provide a much more effective operational decision making process. They are very knowledgeable, and have an excellent grasp of the airline’s and the particular flight’s operational situation.
Regarding the Chinese. They have adopted a full US style system for ops control. In that aspect they are definitely safer than the European ones. Or you could talk to the Malaysians about their Ops Control Center in Kuala Lumpur. It is far superior to the European system. And it was accomplished with the support of a pilot.
As far as Boeing and Airbus is concerned, I think that the Europeans make a great aircraft, and I have no hesitation with flying on them. Note that most of the ops control accidents/incidents in Europe have happened with Airbus aircraft. But that is only because that is what the European carriers were mostly flying. The type of aircraft really had no bearing on it. When aircraft run out fuel, or declare fuel emergencies, or run into hazardous weather, they could be any type.
When it comes to this American-European thing, when someone mentions it, I usually just ignore it. I have many good friends in Europe whom I speak to and visit often. I prefer to remain professional. But those were European passengers who were frightened to death and placed in grave jeopardy on these flights which didn’t make it in safely. Just before the SAAB 2000 of Swiss crashed at Werneuchen, near Berlin in severe weather, the passengers reported that the pilot was screaming to ATC to help him find a place to land as he had only 7 minutes of fuel left “and the passengers all thought that they were going to die”. I just don’t find that humorous. Maybe I can’t take a joke after all.
I am confident that change is coming in Europe. I think it is better if we all support the best possible system we can to achieve a high standard of excellence in operational control/flight dispatch. No flight crew or passenger on any European flight should expect less. That would really make me happy. Then maybe I could take a joke.