Originally Posted by
Tu.114
Puking Dog, thank You for the explanation.
A Squared,
here, things are handled similarly but with differences in detail when it comes to dispatchers.
Generally, our dispatchers tasks range from assigning aircraft to flights (crewing them is done by a different dedicated team in the same room), taking care of ATC matters like filing flight plans, keeping them alive in case of delays to even e-mailing missing charts or other documents to aircraft requiring them on remote airfields. The dispatchers can be considered the cockpit crews agony aunt who is called in case of all operational discrepancies. And they are usually excellent at solving them, let there be no doubt about this.
Calculating operational flight plans, logs, or whatever they may be called in different companies is within his scope as well. But in my company, he will only plan long range and some nominated other flights with higher planning needs: e. g. flights to Tripolis (due to the security situation), Erbil (dito), weight critical flights or wetlease flights will often be planned by him as well. 90% of the flights are planned by flight crews on their own though; there is a flight planning programme provided for that. Only in case of problems like a high risk of diversion, inability to use the preferred alternate, MEL items that make the use of the individual aircraft undesirable for a route, a need for an exact ZFW for performance and fuel planning etc. will the dispatcher be consulted.
The main difference seems to be that the dispatcher here will only offer well founded and worth listening to, albeit non-binding, advice. He might offer a preferred alternate, suggest different routes or whatever might be needed, but the captain has the final call and is allowed to accept or reject this. A flight plan provided by a dispatcher will have to be checked, accepted and signed by the captain; this involves a cross check of weather, notams etc. The captain is also free to decide on fuel requirements (keeping within legal limits of course!) and may order any amount of extra fuel he deems sensible, be it 0 or an amount that requires the offloading of luggage to meet performance requirements. In flight, when outside of the stations radio coverage (in absence of ACARS or HF), no assistance from dispatch is possible, so the crews are completely on their own and are required and allowed to call the shots themselves.
Of course, such freedom comes with more responsibility as well. Here, the buck stops squarely with the captain. If something undesired happens, he will have to explain this, and he will certainly be asked why he did not follow the dispatchers advice if applicable. The dispatcher in turn will be required to answer only for those points that were in his scope, but this does in no way release the captain from his ultimate responsibility for the flights safety.
An attempt to put some blame on the dispatcher is by no means a "get out of jail" card, as the captain has checked and found all the items provided by him to his satisfaction before beginning the flight.
You're welcome TU-114, but I should emphasise that this aspect i highlighted is not different than the FAA-land system. The Captain avoids no responsibility nor is his responsibility diminished in any way by the fact a licensed Dispatcher in Ops Control of a 121 air carrier is also being held responsible. He/she can accept or reject plans/alternates, fuel loads, the aircraft, whatever. The buck stop with him/her.
..but what he/she can't do is go operate an air carrier aircraft under 121 without a Certified Dispatcher also signing-off on the plan and release because the FAA says the buck stops with him/her as well. The pilot is in command of the aircraft but is expected and paid to operate within the authorised the Ops Specs (unless dealing with an emergency necessitates deviating from them) and Manuals. The Company is held responsible for "operational control" of the aircraft. These 2 things (the PIC being in command of the aircraft and the Company responsible for operational control) are not in conflict with each other. In FAA-land, operational control is a specific, defined thing that deals with who's responsible for what when it comes to operating aircraft engaged in air carrier ops at what must be in place to do so.
The main difference of the 2 systems is how much onus is placed on the Company by the regulating authority to establish and maintain a system or operation designed to legally release and support a pilot when it comes to operating safely where things that could affect it are not missed.
An FAA Certificated Dispatcher is expected to demonstrate ATPL-level knowledge and proficiency when it comes to flight planning, weather/forecasts/ and it's effects of on route and airports (dep/arr/enroute and dest alternates) aircraft performance and capabilities, instrument approaches, contaminated runways, ETOPS, operational effects of MEL items, etc etc. They're also required by the FAA to ride in the cockpit jumpseat on Company aircraft a certain amount of hours per year within their system.
The joint authority/responsibility requirement that a Certified Dispatcher with the aforementioned knowledge be legally involved in the planning and release of a flight under 121 comes from the structure of Operational Control mandated by the FAA for air carrier ops, and as such is a safety position to help ensure that the PIC isn't handed whimsical flight plans or expected to sign releases produced by purely commercial concerns. The mandate creates/forces the Company to provide a safety support system and resource for each flight, the point of contact for the PIC on matters of planning and legality being the Dispatcher.
In FAA-land Dispatchers are not the pilot's enemy, crew schedulers and bean-counters are. Operational control centers at air carriers are huge expenses, and Dispatchers also put in long, fatiguing hours in when the weather goes down and things are hectic while they're working many flights. Collaboration to produce a safe, comfortable, efficient flight are shared goals and good, experienced Dispatchers help make the Captain's job easier by closing holes in the cheese beforehand. A trained and Certificated person in the loop being held responsible by the license-issuing authorities for what they produce is much more likely to hand over quality work that is acceptable than someone who is not trained to any standard for licensing and is not.