An air carrier dispatcher reported that a flight with a hydraulic problem failed to coordinate with ...

Narrative:

When the flight was on approach (10;000 ft) I received a call from operations asking if I knew if the flight declared an emergency and that it may need a tow. I knew nothing of this situation and checked my archive messages for any information between the flight and maintenance that I may have missed and there was nothing pertaining to an emergency situation. By the time I hung up the phone; I received a message from the crew to call the flight. I tried to call them; no joy. I saw they were about 9500 ft; so I tried going through commercial radio and no joy. The flight was continuing its approach. Once on the ground I sent the flight an ACARS message asking them to call me when they had a chance. I received a call immediately and the crew was not happy they were still waiting for a tow. I asked the captain about the situation and let him know dispatch and maintenance should have been informed of the hydraulic leak when it first happened halfway into the 3 and a half hour flight so we could offer assistance and prepare the arriving station.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier Dispatcher reported that a flight with a hydraulic problem failed to coordinate with Dispatch and Maintenance to assure proper handling at destination.

Narrative: When the flight was on approach (10;000 FT) I received a call from Operations asking if I knew if the flight declared an emergency and that it may need a tow. I knew nothing of this situation and checked my archive messages for any information between the flight and Maintenance that I may have missed and there was nothing pertaining to an emergency situation. By the time I hung up the phone; I received a message from the crew to call the flight. I tried to call them; no joy. I saw they were about 9500 FT; so I tried going through commercial radio and no joy. The flight was continuing its approach. Once on the ground I sent the flight an ACARS message asking them to call me when they had a chance. I received a call immediately and the crew was not happy they were still waiting for a tow. I asked the Captain about the situation and let him know Dispatch and Maintenance should have been informed of the hydraulic leak when it first happened halfway into the 3 and a half hour flight so we could offer assistance and prepare the arriving station.

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.

Attributes
ACN	850392
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Hydraulic Main System
Person 1
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

An air carrier dispatcher reported that a flight with a hydraulic problem failed to coordinate with dispatch and maintenance to assure proper handling at destination.