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A dispatcher reported he was unable to contact the flight crew of a flight dispatched to a destination now requiring an alternate in a timely fashion.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 850023 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200908 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Dawn |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Taxi |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Dispatcher |
| Qualification | Dispatch Dispatcher |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue |
Narrative:
The weather dropped and ZZZ now required an alternate. Dispatcher X dispatched a flight to ZZZ. During preflight planning an alternate was not required until 10 minutes or so before departure. I remember him calling me explaining how he could not contact the station to have a new release generated and the fuel increased. We tried to get ATC to stop the flight but he was already rotating. Once we were in contact with the crew; the dispatcher verified that they did not have the fuel to add an alternate. So now we were at a decision whether or not to divert for fuel. We looked at the forecast for ZZZ and compared it to the current. The dispatcher wanted to divert and pick-up fuel; but I encouraged him; as well as the crew; to continue on to ZZZ; as the weather started to improve and saw that there would not be any delay in his landing. I talked to the crew on company radio and we decided to continue until he reached ZZZ1 and re-examine the ZZZ weather and then divert if we saw a delay in his landing. In times past when this has happened dispatch has decided to continue unless we saw that flight would not make it in. This with the guidance of duty managers has been somewhat the standard practice. This morning the duty manager concurred that continuing to ZZZ was best.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A Dispatcher reported he was unable to contact the flight crew of a flight dispatched to a destination now requiring an alternate in a timely fashion.
Narrative: The weather dropped and ZZZ now required an alternate. Dispatcher X dispatched a flight to ZZZ. During preflight planning an alternate was not required until 10 minutes or so before departure. I remember him calling me explaining how he could not contact the station to have a new release generated and the fuel increased. We tried to get ATC to stop the flight but he was already rotating. Once we were in contact with the crew; the Dispatcher verified that they did not have the fuel to add an alternate. So now we were at a decision whether or not to divert for fuel. We looked at the forecast for ZZZ and compared it to the current. The Dispatcher wanted to divert and pick-up fuel; but I encouraged him; as well as the crew; to continue on to ZZZ; as the weather started to improve and saw that there would not be any delay in his landing. I talked to the crew on company radio and we decided to continue until he reached ZZZ1 and re-examine the ZZZ weather and then divert if we saw a delay in his landing. In times past when this has happened Dispatch has decided to continue unless we saw that flight would not make it in. This with the guidance of Duty Managers has been somewhat the standard practice. This morning the Duty Manager concurred that continuing to ZZZ was best.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.