Flight Dispatcher Careers
What is a Flight Dispatcher?
A flight dispatcher is an FAA licensed person who plans each flight taken by an airliner, and tracks the progress of each flight from start to finish. The dispatcher is legally as responsible for the safe arrival of the flight as is the airplane captain, but the dispatcher does not fly on the plane. He/she is often referred to as "the captain on the ground." In planning a flight, the dispatcher determines the most efficient and safest route, taking into consideration the payload, weather, available diversion fields, and air traffic control procedures along the way. The dispatcher computes payload weight & balance information, and uses that and weather forecasts to determine required fuel loads, flight altitudes, and other flight procedures. When the flight crew reports in for departure, the dispatcher briefs them on all pertinent aircraft, weather and routing information. A dispatcher can plan and monitor more than one flight at a time, sometimes as many as three to five. If all goes well with the flight, the dispatcher's job of monitoring is very routine. However, if an in-flight problem occurs with passengers, cargo, weather, or with the aircraft, the dispatcher can become very busy assisting the flight crew to make decisions that bring the flight to a safe conclusion. The dispatcher will then focus on assisting that one flight, handing off the other flights to other dispatchers.
Need for Flight Dispatchers
Flight Dispatching is a new career field that is growing rapidly. The FAA requires the major airlines to have a dispatcher assigned to each flight. In addition, many flight insurance companies offer lower premiums for smaller airlines that may not be required by the FAA to have licensed dispatchers, but do so anyway. There is currently a serious shortage of qualified dispatchers available across the entire industry. The shortage exists for two reasons. First, flight dispatching is a newly emerging career field that few people have heard of, especially young students who are in the process of choosing a career. Secondly, because of the shortage, dispatcher salaries have risen as airlines hire dispatchers away from one another.
Becoming a Flight Dispatcher
Training to become a flight dispatcher entails learning the factors and procedures required to competently plan a flight, brief the flight crew, monitor the progress of the flight, and assist the crew if something unexpected occurs in the air. The dispatcher acquires a wealth of information about: aircraft performance, meteorology, navigation, air traffic control, rules & procedures, mechanical issues, and the characteristics of at least four common commercial aircraft. Dispatcher candidates must then pass FAA written and oral exams that are nearly identical to the ones given to airline pilots in order to take command as captain of an airplane. This is called the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) exam. It is not necessary to have a college degree to become a flight dispatcher, however, having a degree makes a person much more competitive for finding jobs and especially for getting promoted once working for an airline. Training to become a dispatcher requires approximately six months of full time, college level work.
Career Opportunities
The career opportunities for flight dispatchers are flourishing. The functions of a dispatcher have been traditionally been performed by the pilots and copilots of commercial airlines. Planning a flight is a time consuming process, often requiring several hours of work before the flight can depart. The major airlines discovered several years ago that they could used their pilots more effectively by having them fly the airplanes without spending so much time on the ground in preparation. Particularly for early morning flight departures, planning the flights beforehand were particularly distasteful for flight crews. By splitting the responsibilities, the airlines can now get substantially more "air time" from their pilots. In addition, the dispatcher serves as a backup person on the ground to assist the flight crew along the way. In emergency situations, this provides a safer recovery process. This efficiency benefit has spread to smaller airlines, airfreight companies, and even corporate flight services that use small executive jets. Thus, the need for dispatchers is new and growing very rapidly.
Choosing a Program
When choosing a flight dispatcher training program, a candidate should choose a school that also offers other types of aviation training, especially flight training and aircraft maintenance, since these functions utilize many of the same knowledge that a dispatcher student must learn. It is often easier to learn technical matters when the direct applications can be seen, firsthand. In addition, the chosen program should also offer the opportunity for obtaining an associate degree in aviation technology to complement the dispatcher certificate. A candidate should also choose a program that has partnership arrangements with several local airlines for two reasons. First, a local airline partner will usually permit students to observe their actual flight dispatching functions in real time. And second, the local airline partners are likely to become the first employers of new graduates from the program.
Editorial provided by Walt Davis. Mr. Davis is the Chair/Professor of Aviation at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, OH.
