A dispatcher discovered after the fact that the B757-200; dispatched with ACARS and HF comm MEL's co...

Narrative:

One of my international long range flights had MEL'd items for HF/satcom and basic ACARS. This should have left the flight with two methods of long range communications. Once the flight was airborne it received a reroute. I was able to contact the flight via satcom; however they indicated that the problem with the ACARS was incorrect software and that they could not place a satcom call. This left them with only one method of long range communications (single HF). I told them that if they needed to contact dispatch to have ATC call us and that we would call them back on satcom. The cause of the problem was the MEL provided no indication that the exact nature of the ACARS problem also rendered satcom unusable to the crew. In the future we need to make sure the MEL and other manuals are clear as to the consequences of placarding a particular system inoperative.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Dispatcher discovered after the fact that the B757-200; dispatched with ACARS and HF Comm MEL's communications systems in actuality only had a single functioning long range communication system. ATC was enlisted to provide info/data relays if required.

Narrative: One of my international long range flights had MEL'd items for HF/SATCOM and Basic ACARS. This should have left the flight with two methods of long range communications. Once the flight was airborne it received a reroute. I was able to contact the flight via SATCOM; however they indicated that the problem with the ACARS was incorrect software and that they could not place a SATCOM call. This left them with only one method of long range communications (single HF). I told them that if they needed to contact Dispatch to have ATC call us and that we would call them back on SATCOM. The cause of the problem was the MEL provided no indication that the exact nature of the ACARS problem also rendered SATCOM unusable to the crew. In the future we need to make sure the MEL and other manuals are clear as to the consequences of placarding a particular system inoperative.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1099664
Time
Date	201307
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	ACARS
Person 1
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural MEL Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A dispatcher discovered after the fact that the B757-200; dispatched with ACARS and HF comm MEL's communications systems in actuality only had a single functioning long range communication system. ATC was enlisted to provide info/data relays if required.