Here is an aviation riddle: What do you call a person who does not fly but has the tested knowledge and responsibility of an airline transport pilot? An FAA certificated aircraft dispatcher, also known as an ADX.
Another title might be "ground captain". Instead of strapping into airliners, these airline professionals are surrounded by computers, data links, and phones at vital ground-bound command centers. Their responsibility matches that of the airliner's captain. Federal Aviation Regulation 121.533(b) says, "The pilot in command and the aircraft dispatcher are jointly responsible for the preflight planning, delay, and dispatch release of a flight...." FAR 121.595(a) adds, "No person may start a flight unless an aircraft dispatcher specifically authorizes that flight."
Before releasing a flight, dispatchers evaluate the weather, plan the flight, determine if the aircraft is equipped properly for the flight (such as life rafts for applicable over-water flights) and that maintenance problems have been solved, assess navigational aids at airports, and relay NOTAMs (Notices To Airmen) to the captain. Once the flight is released, the ADX monitors its progress and notifies the captain if conditions develop that might jeopardize the flight, provides alternate airport options, and draws on all ground resources to assist the captain in planning the best course of action. The ADX has the authority to cancel or delay a flight and to make other decisions to assure its safety.
Dispatching as a profession dates back 75 years. When the fledgling airline industry delivered U.S. mail, it looked to the railroads for ideas on how to plan and control its operations. So, just like the railroads in the Roaring '20s, the airlines hired dispatchers to make go/no-go decisions. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Board, the FAA's predecessor, developed regulations that mandated the use of federally licensed dispatchers by U.S. airlines. These regulations exist today. FAR 121.395 requires that "each domestic and flag air carrier shall provide enough qualified aircraft dispatchers at each dispatch center to ensure proper operational control of each flight."
Because a single dispatcher is responsible for a number of concurrent flights, the major airlines each employ 80 to 200 dispatchers, and the Airline Dispatcher's Federation estimates that there are more than 2,000 FAA-certificated airline dispatchers nationwide. This number is sure to grow. The FAA predicts that 1 billion passengers will be flying the "friendly skies" by 2013, and that the major airline fleet is projected to expand from 4,426 to 6,531. None of these airplanes, and the passengers they carry, will move without a dispatcher's release.
Although not now required to have and use them, a number of Part-135 regional airlines use dispatchers, and the FAA predicts that the commuter fleet will grow from 2,179 planes in 1994 to 3,250 in 2006. Part 135's dispatch option may become a requirement if the FAA's "Zero
Tolerance" initiative to provide one level of safety to all airline operations is adopted. In addition, a growing number of corporate flight operations use dispatchers.
ADX certification requirements are listed in FARs 65.53, 65.55, 65.57, and 65.59. Applicants must be atleast 23 years of age and be able to read, write, speak, and understand English.
As part of the certification process, the applicant must take a knowledge test equivalent to that taken by applicants for the airline transport pilot certificate. The applicant will be tested on regulations; systems of collecting and disseminating weather information; interpreting weather reports and forecasts; advanced meteorology, including upper atmosphere characteristics; and principles of forecasting and analysis. The test also includes many questions about aircraft navigation with special emphasis on IFR operations and procedures; communication facilities and procedures; air navigation; and air traffic control procedures.
Passing the FAA test is just the first step to an ADX certificate. Applicants must also take a practical test to demonstrate their expertise in transport-category aircraft weight and balance, operating limitations, cruise control charts, fuel and oil capacities and rates of consumption, and the aircraft operations manual. The ADX "checkride" covers landing areas, airport lighting facilities, altimetry, approach and landing facilities and procedures, applying available weather forecasts and reports to determine whether a flight can be made safely, dispatching and assisting a flight under adverse weather conditions, and emergency procedures. All of this testing is generally administered by an operations inspector from a local FAA flight standards district office.
Applicants must also present proof of practical experience. At least two of the three years before applying for the certificate can be experience in scheduled air carrier operations, scheduled military operations, or other aircraft operations as a pilot crew member, flight or ground radio operator, navigator, meteorologist, or other equivalent experience acceptable to the FAA.
Other forms of experience include work as an air traffic controller or serving as a dispatcher's assistant in scheduled air carrier operations, or successful completion (within 90 days before application date) of an FAA-approved training course for aircraft dispatchers. This last option holds promise for those who are unable to acquire on-the-job experience.
A number of schools provide ADX training; a typical course consists of about 200 hours of training over six to eight weeks. Tuition runs between $2500 and $5000, and most schools provide placement assistance. Getting a job as an ADX is not unlike applying for any position with an airline. Scour the "Help Wanted" ads in industry publications, complete airline application forms and specify an interest in dispatching, and network. Basically, you do everything that you would do in a hunt for a pilot slot.
Once dispatchers are hired, their training continues. They must learn and be tested on the operation specifics for each airline's aircraft, or those aircraft for which they will be responsible. They must learn the airline's routes, the airports at which the flights land, and other airline procedures. Like pilots, dispatchers must undergo periodic recurrency training, and they must fly (in the cockpit jumpseat) the routes their flights traverse.
Why would anyone want to be a dispatcher and fly a desk for an airline? Consider this: After working as a dispatcher for a major airline for 10 years, you have the potential of an $80,000 annual salary, and dispatchers working for regional airlines start at around $20,000 per year. Although they do not fly, dispatchers also have time and duty requirements similar to airline pilots.
Some experts say that the aircraft dispatcher's position is one of the best non-flying jobs in aviation. The dispatch department is the nerve center of an airline's or corporation's flight operations, and dispatchers are essential members of the flight crews. (Source: Flight Training Magazine, Feb 1996)
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