Season's greetings..
With the size and type of operation that you work in then you could say that it is relatively common for flight dispatchers to end up doing everything, especially in the middle east where the regulations may be a little loose when compared with scheduled airline ops. Smaller companies tend not to have the resources to hire someone for every little post. Very often the ones who are in the position to make your job and life easier understand very little about operations and so don't know or don't care, or possibly both, about your daily grievances on shift.
I can appreciate that it must be frustrating at times but have you considered trying to change how you do things?
Maybe change your SOP's, try planning as much in advance if you can. A good shift briefing and handover from your colleagues is essential to get a good head start on the day.
If you're spending a lot of time getting permits and arranging fuel then perhaps arrange block permits, I know that is not always practical though.
Sit back and try to identify inefficencies and then solve them one by one. Maybe consider changing your roster pattern so that there is an overlap during the peak times so you have 2 on shift instead of 1.
Are all the ops staff good at their jobs? do they carry their weight or do some of the others carry it for them?
If you have 2 trainees out of 5 people then that is a little bit difficult, especially if this is their first time in operations.
Whomever your direct manager is should be told and explain to them that extra backup is required in order to get everything done.
Good luck
D.O.G
Last edited by desertopsguy; 21st December 2010 at 13:00.