Issues Associated with Replanning
Sometimes the ARTCCs will offer more direct routing to NWA flights. The SOC believes that the NWA flight crews have been sufficiently briefed that they no longer accept what is offered, but in fact do coordinate with the SOC to determine if there is an operational gain to be made by accepting the pro-offered route.
The NWA SOC representative that was met with expressed concern regarding the idea of each aircraft being soley responsible for replanning. The obvious issue of that flight crew not being aware of “big picture” concerns for the airline, but the opportunity is presented to the flight crew of taking more time than is required for a nominal flight between that city-pair, which in some cases could exceed allowable crew duty times. This could have a profound impact on the system, i.e., no crew available to takeover the flight at the destination because the in-bound crew cannot fly for 8 hrs (the proscribed duty-rest cycle).
When asked about the idea of locating a high-resolution color printer on the flight decks of the fleet, the SOC rep thought that would be enormously beneficial in terms of a shared “world-view” of the routing situation, thereby allowing a better dialog between the flight crew and the dispatcher.
Greatest Existing Inefficiencies
(1)
Working with Central Flow Control on rerouting (in reaction to non-normal operations, such as severe weather) is not a well-structured effort. No existing protocol is in place that guides those interactions. Sometimes Central Flow Control will “work with you” other times they are unapproachable.
(2)
Communications during Non-normal operations could be improved. Held up as a show case example was a North-East Regional Hotline that is put in place between various ATC facilities (Control Towers, TRACONs, and ARTCCs) when severe weather (i.e., blizzards) disrupte operations. The purpose of the hotline is to facilitate communications, with regards to coordinating traffic flows, between these facilities. The airlines benefit by “eavesdropping” on the conversation because it allows them to anticipate actions that will be taken by ATC personnel, such as:
.
closing runways
.
redirecting traffic flows (in-bound and out-bound from airports)
.
preferred routing that is temporarily put into place
(3)
Realistic Holding Times (e.g., “Expect Further Clearance”). With the “tank-limited” flights that NWA operates, such as DC-9s at the limit of their range, it is important that they receive realistic estimate of airborne delay in order to avoid unnecessary diversions.
Flight planning/replanning functional analysis
Structured interview with Spirit Airlines Head Dispatcher
Background information
Airline/Company/Organization (if applicable): Spirit Airlines (fly a fleet of approximately a
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