BAW
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BAW
Hi All,
I'm sorry if this has been answered before, but does British Airways have flight dispatchers? I'm a dispatcher in the US, and am aware that things are different in Europe. But still, I was wondering how BA does it? Does someone plan the route and/or fuel load? Do they have flight followers?
Thanks in advance~
I'm sorry if this has been answered before, but does British Airways have flight dispatchers? I'm a dispatcher in the US, and am aware that things are different in Europe. But still, I was wondering how BA does it? Does someone plan the route and/or fuel load? Do they have flight followers?
Thanks in advance~
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Hi Zulutime,
The UK CAA doesn't issue flight dispatcher licenses as you probably know.
I'm not from an airline background myself... but I guess this is probably quite similar to how it works Stateside.
I had a little tour round the 3rd floor of Waterside briefly a while ago and I remember that they have:
- Planning guys looking at route, tracks, winds, costs, alternates, weather, fuel, etc. They probably have a title but I forget exactly what it is. They come up with a route / OFP basically. There is a OVF/LDG permission subdepartment here I think.
- A crewing section
- A load control section
- A maintenance section (Maintrol) that the pilots can speak to enroute if they have problems, and that schedules the a/c depending on which ones are not broken
- Ops control, which synchronizes everything and does flight following / flight watch and short term stuff
As far as the final step goes where the FAA dispatcher signs it in the States and gives it to the captain, in BA (for long haul, anyway) they have the "crew reporting centre" (CRC) where the pilots roll up and sign in and print their stuff, check it, and acknowledge receipt / correctness. This used to be in the Compost Centre but is now in T5. They can also print out extra stuff if they need it / call the planning guy (his phone # is on the plan) / chat to the rest of the crew / decide to take extra fuel etc. The cabin crew have little meeting rooms along the side where they can discuss how best to lubricate the 1st class pax and other things of that nature, and the pilots can chip in here if needed.
Hope this helps!
The UK CAA doesn't issue flight dispatcher licenses as you probably know.
I'm not from an airline background myself... but I guess this is probably quite similar to how it works Stateside.
I had a little tour round the 3rd floor of Waterside briefly a while ago and I remember that they have:
- Planning guys looking at route, tracks, winds, costs, alternates, weather, fuel, etc. They probably have a title but I forget exactly what it is. They come up with a route / OFP basically. There is a OVF/LDG permission subdepartment here I think.
- A crewing section
- A load control section
- A maintenance section (Maintrol) that the pilots can speak to enroute if they have problems, and that schedules the a/c depending on which ones are not broken
- Ops control, which synchronizes everything and does flight following / flight watch and short term stuff
As far as the final step goes where the FAA dispatcher signs it in the States and gives it to the captain, in BA (for long haul, anyway) they have the "crew reporting centre" (CRC) where the pilots roll up and sign in and print their stuff, check it, and acknowledge receipt / correctness. This used to be in the Compost Centre but is now in T5. They can also print out extra stuff if they need it / call the planning guy (his phone # is on the plan) / chat to the rest of the crew / decide to take extra fuel etc. The cabin crew have little meeting rooms along the side where they can discuss how best to lubricate the 1st class pax and other things of that nature, and the pilots can chip in here if needed.
Hope this helps!
