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An air carrier dispatcher believes the newly implemented computerized dispatch program is inadequate or unable to provide consistently legal and timely flight releases.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1075963 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201303 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A321 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Dispatcher |
| Qualification | Dispatch Dispatcher |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Other Unwanted Situation |
Narrative:
Our airline's new automated dispatch generator system recommended no alternate for one of my flights based on unreliable and inadequate information. The program recommended no alternate for the flight but apparently had not read the current forecast of light rain and snow; three miles visibility and broken clouds at 800 AGL. I caught the event prior to departure time and assigned an appropriate alternate based on fars; company training and experience. This automated system dispatches flights in direct contradiction to far 121.619 and other approved; proven regulations; company policies and back up procedures. Dispatch note: this flight was written with legal alternate by the morning dispatcher and the automated system's recommendations came to the evening dispatcher.this program is unreliable; unsafe and has a high error rate which; during high tempo workloads; could increase chances of illegal releases and possible illegal flights if not caught by the flight crew. It also has a high potential of causing potential flight delays due to last minute fuel increases for alternates the program did not recommend or illegal flights if not caught by flight crews and dispatch before departure time.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An air carrier Dispatcher believes the newly implemented computerized dispatch program is inadequate or unable to provide consistently legal and timely flight releases.
Narrative: Our airline's new automated dispatch generator system recommended NO Alternate for one of my flights based on unreliable and inadequate information. The program recommended NO alternate for the flight but apparently had not read the current forecast of light rain and snow; three miles visibility and broken clouds at 800 AGL. I caught the event prior to departure time and assigned an appropriate alternate based on FARs; company training and experience. This automated system dispatches flights in direct contradiction to FAR 121.619 and other approved; proven regulations; company policies and back up procedures. DISPATCH NOTE: This flight was written with legal alternate by the morning Dispatcher and the automated system's recommendations came to the evening Dispatcher.This program is unreliable; unsafe and has a high error rate which; during high tempo workloads; could INCREASE chances of illegal releases and possible illegal flights if not caught by the flight crew. It also has a high potential of causing potential flight delays due to last minute fuel increases for alternates the program did not recommend or illegal flights if not caught by flight crews and Dispatch before departure time.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.