Flight dispatcher

[schaloner]

I'm interested to find out about the role of flight dispatcher, what training is required and where from, and employment prospects in the UK.

TIA

[moufflon]

Well, dispatchers in the UK are more commonly known as operations controllers (or some variation). There is no UK licence as such but plenty of training courses related to it.

It's best to start out as an ops assistant for the experience, and to see if you like it. The pay is crap at this stage.

I'm out of the UK loop right now, but I understand DHL at East Mids might be worth a shot if you fancy cargo.

At controller level the salary should be in the 20s and it can be advantageous to gain an FAA dispatcher's licence, this will give you the edge in job interviews and is a very interesting and hard 6 week course in the USA (see www.dispatcher.org). (http://www.dispatcher.org).)

As for the job itself, it varies by company, but mainly consists of flight planning with a computer system such as Jeppesen's, flight following (tracking arrival/departure times), weather briefing, general organising and rearranging when it all goes wrong, and sometimes crewing.

If you're lucky you'll never be bored.

M :D

[OO-AOG]

In continental Europe, a flight dispatcher is the one in charge of flight planning. As previously said here, it's better to have an ops assistant experience before applying for the position. You don't need any license (at least for the time being), but an FAA course/license would be interesting on your CV if you have no previous experience.
For the salary, expect a range from 20K up to 35K.

Cheers
OO-AOG

[vipero]

AOG AOG AOG...three simple letters that mean "nightmare" for all of us...

No better nicks available?? :D :D :D
Ciao
Paolo

[NORDIC]

As a despatcher, you will be responsible for the complete coordination of an aircraft's turnaround. Not only from the time at which it arrives on the stand, but also from well before its arrival. You will monitor every other department involved, and will also prepare weather, flight plans and loadsheets for the flightcrew. You will be responsible for the on time or early departure of the flight, and will deal with many security factors. Baggage security, ramp safety, passenger handling and crew compliance will all be part of your responsibilities. You will be able to command, however be part of a team of people involved in a particular flight, and will have a viewpoint that aviation revolves around teamwork with good coordination, to be a success.

Enjoy, if you do it....I did it for nearly three years, and will always be glad that I did. The people you will meet are second to none, and the training will mean you have the option to move wherever you like.

Cheers,

NORDIC .

[Nearly Christmas]

Ehhh he says scratching his head...

Flight dispatcher = Ramp
Ops Controller/officer = Office
Ops assistant = Office

Whey do all company’s insist on swapping the names around its very confusing. Anybody want to put it in simple terms cos I suspect people wishing to join our fraternity would love to know what each job entails..

Cat-Club you seem have been around since year dot what do ya recon

Rgds NC

[Cat-Club]

MOUFFLON more or less sums it up. In the UK, despatchers are not licensed individuals, whereas elsewhere, they are. It depends really on what you want from the job. If you want to bash out loadsheets all day long, then stick with the handling agents. If you want to go far deeper, suggest you contact the foreign airlines such as Saudia, AA, Emirates etc as they will obviously provide a far better training package than the likes of Servisair etc. The benefits will be greater too.

Now I wait for the slanging from Servisair bods :eek:

[vipero]

wait wait wait! You mean in UK a despatcher is responsible for ramp ops?? That's new for me. I always intended that a flight dispatcher was the one in charge for flight planning, flight briefing and so on (American way). Then in Europe we attached this function to the flight watch/ops control...but that a despatcher was also involved in ramp-agent/w&b duties sounds brand new to me. Ah ok, now I get it! I'm Italian...(ok, cannot be blamed for that then) :D

Ciao
Paolo

[Keyboard]

NORDIC
In my station the dispatchers don't actually get involved in the passenger handling. Yeah they are responsible for the Turnaround and all the paperwork for the flight deck. Usually the pax are left for the passengers services end to deal with unless its differnt in yr station.

[SZD]

In most UK independant handling agents (don't mention the 'S' word!), dispatchers have very little to do with flight Ops. They are responsible for the tunaround of the Aircraft. This usually involves being out on the ramp supervising loading of baggage and cargo, cleaning of the A/C, catering and boarding of passengers. Office based people take care of flight plans and other flightdeck paperwork such the loadsheet.

Most ground Handling in the Uk is performed by independants such as Aviance, GHI etc.

[SAIIP]

Schaloner,
Dispatcher(Ops Controller)? or Despatcher(Ramp)?
For Dispatcher - Flt Ops, usually training provided by the company, most people start as an Ops Assistant(Money not to good but you can gain most of your experience from it). Or Alternatively you can do some prior study with AVTECH (http://www.avtech2000.co.uk) which lead to a C&G cert. or.. go to the State for a FAA Dispatcher Licence.
(With the way JAR OPS goes, it won't require any licence at all). I did my sometime ago through my company, although most Training School say "No prior experience required", that is not ture, most people without any prior experience found it so hard and you are constantly under pressure. I must admit I have a great time there (6 weeks off) :D

Work wise, depend on what type of operations your company have.But work pattern wise usually 4 on 4 off(2 days 2 night). My typical day usually start with Flight Scheduling, Flight Planning, reading the weather and notams for my sector, flight watch and trobleshooting. Most of my time spend on paper-work. The best things is every day you have difference problem.. shoot--> :confused:

To gain experience is best to start with a Charter airline or a Corporate comapny. Since they have no fix schedule you will learn a lot about dispatching in difference area and locations.

For Despatcher - Ramp I don't know much sorry.

Good luck..

Sai