DISPATCHER TRAINING

[Pete McGuirk]

I am doing the FAA Dispatcher Course at AFDTC Dallas in February. Can anyone who has recently done the course give me any idea as to the make up of the test you do after about three weeks?? Am I right in thinking it is so many questions on Regs, Weather etc or is it pure random. Any help would be welcome - Thanks in advance.

Pete

[Whooaahh]

OK, I'm not "recently" FAA licenced but 10 years ago ( Geez...am I that old? ) there was a book of Q&A's and the computerised/written test was made up of only Questions taken from the book, or was it the other way round??

Memorise the book and the test is a doddle. If I can get 95% anyone can!!

Tip. Swot up on your US Geography. Some questions come like "What is the current wind direction in Oklahoma? If you don't know where OK is, your screwed.

Whooaahh!!!

[waco]

Send me an e-mail
Think I might be able to help.

[Pete McGuirk]

Whooaahh , Waco

Thanks for the message and help. Waco an e-mail is on its way!!

Cheers

Pete

[B727]

Pete

Best advise I can give on practical is that the Feds look on the cert for what it is an entry level certificate of competence.
No airline will throw you in at the deep end and all offer several months on the job training. Examiners know this.

Tips:
1. Know your stuff. Esp basics as in previous Geography example. Try not to refer back to what you know too much. Nothing pisses him off more that if you keep refering to UK SOP etc etc your in the States taking US exam remember that.
2. Don't bull****. Better to admit your unsure rather than blast headlong in with crap answer.
3. When examiner explains wrong answer to ya, look interested and ask Q's.....
4. Relax and be confident. Examiners are there to pass you not fail you.

I sat 3yrs back in NYC,nervous at the time but looking back it was pretty handy.
Hardest part for me was 'relearning' the US way i.e. 1/2SM, 500MB....... Araghhhhhhh

Best of luck, drop a note on your return to let us know how you got on.

Best Regards.
Another Forgotton Airman

[waco]

Pete

Problem with my e-mail server
will be back to you asap.

regards
waco

[Re-Route]

good luck with the faa test. i finished my course in oct.
the knowledge test is easy if you memorise the q's and a's. i was sent about 300 q's to learn, but i would advise to learn as much as posible before you go out there.
it took me about 40mins to complete the test so its not that bad, the worst thing is the nerves!!

good luck
re-route

[EGLL001]

Hi Pete

Further to your message, I recently returned from Dallas (AFDTC). The written test is done in 2 weeks instead of 3 as stated on the website. The questions are selected randomly - not everyone will get the same questions. You have 3 hours to complete the written and the pass mark is 70%.

The practical/Oral test will be after 2 weeks instead of 3. The 3rd week is used for testing (for both written and practical)

Your Instructors will be the following two :

Jean Pierre Kujawa (JP) (French)
Gary Pascoe (USA)

Gary I would think has more knowledge, where as JP who was my instructor also seems to know what is talking about, a former AFDTC graduate.

Also note that during your course several of the U.S. carriers come to the school to interview for dispatcher positions. If you dont have a work permit for the U.S. then forget attending the interviews as none of the carriers are willing to sponsor your'e an U.S citizen.

The Examiners for the Oral/Practical are usually the following :

Jim Jensen - AA Dispatcher (Ask everything - especially FAA Regs in Detail)

Jim Hart - AA Line Captain

Richard Wateska (AFDTC Owner - good examiner
ask a lot of B727 systems, some regs, and a lot of Weather.

Susan ??? (If you get her as an examiner - You are F**k*d - she is a real mean B*tch.
Loves her weather, Regs, She will even ask you to draw a high level sig chart, radar summary etc all from scratch.

If you plan to stay at the house, make sure it is 121 Hurstview and not the one next door, as that was occupied by the GOOKS (Chinese - Students when I went). Right old dump the Chinese Students totally ransacked that place, we even found a half cooked CAT in the oven.

The 121 Hurstview property accomdates 14 in total. Rooms 1,2,3,4,5 are probably the best
in the whole house - Rooms 6 and 7 are too small with 2 people in them.

Room 3 has the ensuite bathroom reserved for the females if there are any at the time.

Bronco's (Hamburgers) 1 min walk from the school has a special on Tues & Thurs $1.50 hamburgers, waitresses are pretty hot too.

I Hope this helps

Regards

Paulo

[vipero]

Hey Pete!
Do not worry too much, just learn by hart as many q/a as you can, study hard and you'll have no problems.

Say ciao to Richard
Paolo

[Iceman80]

After looking on this page of postings and knowing that I too would like to get an FAA dispatchers licence in the future, can anyone let me know how you go about finding out about what it entails, ie where to study it, costs, where the test is held etc.

I personally have some future ideas on what I'd like to do in life, but unfortunately (and I'll admit) I do not know where you start on this topic! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

------------------
Thats a fine thing!

[B727]

Road I went down was as much self study as poss to eliminate costs.
I bought Gleim red book with 1500+ Q's in and took it from there.
When I felt I was ready I went to I think it was called US Airman school in Staverton.

With this behind me i concetrated on the States, you've got 24months I believe before part I expires. So get that first, only cost £60 to sit and whatever for the book.....

If you get this and still think it's something worth progressing then start worrying about £££'s.

Another thing is to shop around for stateside schools, all well and good to spend a fortune going to the best available but at the end of the day you still get the same cert regardless of where you study and no matter what % you get over 70%!!!
I wd look to choose smaller/independent school more so that FlightSafety type outfit.

My 2 cents.....
Another Forgotton Airman

http://www.gleim.com

[Iceman80]

Thanks B727

I guess that last message was aimed in answer to my question. It all seems quite good, I'll take the first step and order that RED book. Thank you again for the help.

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Thats a fine thing!

[B727]

Iceman80

Sorry it was of course. Any other Q's
drop me a line.

B727

[Mad-Dog11]

Hello everyone. Thought i would add my two cents worth on this one. The written test is composed of 80 randomly picked questions supposedly. So i guess it was pure co-incidence that my room-mate and I had exactly the same test!! As for the oral test - mine lasted over 6 hours because i had Susan from the F.A.A centre in Oklahoma. She will make you work to get your licence. One of the most common things she will ask (and i know some of the other examiners do this as well) is to get you to get the latest weather forecast for a particular airport in the vicinity. This is where you have to borrow her phone and dial the 1-800-WX-BRIEF line. But saying all this it was all excellent fun and worthwhile.

Just take your time with the questions, and just stick to the short answer - dont elaborate too much otherwise you will find yourself in a big hole!

If u want any other info then let me know

MD

[fopah]

Hello everyone, I've been following the info on Dispatch training. I'm an aviation buff about to chuck a braindead customer service job in retail sales for something meaningful. Dispatching sounds like a great job but does it matter what school you attend in the US? Is one better than the other? Any info would be appreciated.

Prime before you prop

[BONDMAN]

fopah, you say you want to get into dispatching,but just to make you aware of the differences between the uk and us of the role of a dispatcher. Across the pond, the FAA dispatcher license is a comprehesive course geared to providing the indivual with the skills for a/c dispatch, from flt planning thru to wt and balance (or shud it now be mass and balance!), roughly similair to a uk airline ops (except for some aspects eg,the loadsheet/deciding fuel loads), the dispatchers are located in a few main hubs and are each responsible for a certain number of flts system wide.
In the uk a dispatcher are the guys and gals at the a/c, coordinating the turnround and all associated paperwork eg. loadsheets/AAA etc (in the u.s. they are usually called gate agents). Training varies, all I got was to follow around another colleague and pick it up as I went along, although most handling agents now give you some classroom training on the basics.
Obviously if you get a FAA license first you'll have a good knowledge to kick off with and it's recognised around the world that you have achieved a certain standard

Cheers Bondy :)

[dhanash]

HI
I AM NEW IN THE BUSINESS OF FLIGHT OPS AND CREWING. AT PRESENT I AM A FLIGHT DISPATCHER WITH A SMALL AIRLINE IN THE CARIBBEAN. I AM INTERESTED IN PURSUING MY FAA LICENSE IN THE US. CAN ANY ONE SUGGEST A SCHOOL THAT I CAN ATTEND THAT IS REPUTABLE AND REASONABLE. ONE MORE THING IS THERE A COURSE IN CREWING AVAILABLE? ANYONE......