Dispatching for Safety

摘要

In the beginning of this paper we asked, "How does a scheduler or dispatcher contribute to the safety of the flight department?" The answer to this question will depend on how well your scheduler or dispatcher is trained within your department, and how empowered they are in their position. Tom Prevost Jr., the Vice President of Aviation, at CIGNA Flight Department, had the following to say regarding his schedulers: "In order to have an effective safety program, you must have everyone in the organization working to a common goal. At CIGNA our goal is Zero Accidents. Our Scheduling department assists us in achieving that goal in several ways: 1. The schedulers are responsible for all crew scheduling. They must monitor each pilots duty time as well as pilot currency. Our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP'S) dictate our crew duty limitations and the FAA dictates Crew Currency requirements. Our schedulers must juggle all these requirements to ensure that each flight has a well-rested crew on board as well as a fully qualified crew and that none of these limitations are exceeded. 2. Our scheduling department qualifies trip requests against airport limitations, aircraft limitations, and crew limitations before any trip is scheduled. They are one of the first links in the safety chain. 3. Our schedulers flight-follow every trip on every aircraft. This function ensures we know where all of our assets are at any given moment. Additionally, in the event an aircraft did not arrive at their destination at the scheduled time, someone from our scheduling function begins looking for them. This is particularly important for our helicopter operation, which typically operates VFR. 4. Our schedulers also maintain a severe weather early warning system to alert our customers and flight crews of possible severe weather along their intended route of flight. This system affords us time to change aircraft, destinations, or mode of travel (air or ground) to assure our customers make it to their ultimate destination safely and in time to conduct their business."