As a SWA dispatcher, I am all but required to be a member of the dispatcher’s union. Ours is a local union with no affiliations with a larger organization, so we handle everything ourselves. Our current contract is nearly the end of its 12-year timeframe, an extremely long time, so many of the members are eager to negotiate a new contract starting near the end of next year. Unhappy with the perceived level of respect that we get from management, the union’s board of directors has proposed affiliating with the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), a large international union that represents dispatchers at many other airlines as well as the flight attendants and ground workers here at SWA. The board believes that this affiliation would give us more clout and more resources and would save us money. The vote will occur later this month. For political reasons I won’t offer any opinion here, but those who know me well probably know where I stand. From what I’ve heard around the office, I think we will vote to join TWU.
Category Archives: Aviation
Another Reason to Like SWA
As you’ve probably read, Hurricane Gustav is churning in the Gulf and appears to be headed straight for Louisiana. It’s already a Category 4 storm and could reach Category 5 today, so the residents of New Orleans are evacuating. The New Orleans airport (MSY) is closing at 6:00pm on Sunday. Since Southwest has lots of employees who work at MSY and need to evacuate, dozens of volunteers from other SWA airports are flying in yesterday and today to work our flights so that the local employees can wrap up their affairs and hit the road.
I spoke with one such volunteer last night, a great guy who normally works at Dallas. He said he grew up in the Bay Area and understands about natural disasters, so he wanted to help out in New Orleans. He’ll probably return on the last flight out of MSY this evening. I am proud to call him a coworker.
If Southwest Worked Like a Newborn
As most of you know, Southwest Airlines is a model of efficiency copied by low cost carriers around the world. As the father of a newborn, I am finding a plethora of inefficient aspects of life with a baby. That got me thinking: what would Southwest be like if our 737s operated like a newborn?
- Our fuelers would load the required amount of fuel onto the plane. Then the Captain would open the dump valve and pour a couple thousand pounds of fuel overboard just after departure. A few minutes later, he would dump another thousand.
- Because of these fuel dumps, the flight would now be short of fuel and unable to reach its destination, necessitating either a midair refueling or diversion.
- On-time departures and arrivals would be a thing of the past. The published schedule would be more of a suggestion. A flight is successful if it gets there at all.
- Instead of going several weeks between cleanings, our planes would need a thorough cleaning after every flight, both inside and out.
- Every passenger would talk on their cell phone at the top of their lungs for the entire flight.
- Both lavs are inop. Always. Hope you brought a really big diaper bag!
Poetic Justice
American Airlines’ pilots’ union (APA) has 23 employees who formed their own union. After months of trying unsuccessfully to work out a new contract with APA, they decided to picket their employer on Thursday. So one union is “management” for another union and is getting picketed. That cracks me up. I wonder how it feels for APA. Read the story on Yahoo.
Have $200K to Burn?
Entrepreneur Richard Branson and aerospace genius Burt Rutan have unveiled the “mother ship” for Virgin Galactic, the world’s first “spaceline”. The White Knight Two is a specially designed dual-fuselage aircraft that will carry a small spaceship called Space Ship Two up to about 50,000 feet and release it. Space Ship Two will then launch its own rocket and reach a height of about 62 miles (about 327,000 feet for you aviation junkies), technically entering space and giving its passengers 5 minutes of weightlessness and a heck of a view, according to the report. Sound fun? It sure does to me! Unfortunately the cost right now is around $200,000. =)
How Much Fuel is Enough?
One of the most important aspects of my job as a flight dispatcher is fuel planning. For each flight I work, I consider the weather, airport, air traffic control issues, and more to decide how much fuel to order. Once he arrives at the airport and examines the same issues, he/she decides to accept my plan or work with me to alter it in some way, such as adding fuel. The more fuel we carry, the heavier the aircraft is, and the more fuel we burn at $4.00-4.40/gallon. So I normally don’t fill the tanks like many people did in the past. But I have to carry enough fuel to reach our destination and alternate (if required) successfully, plus 45 minutes of reserve fuel as required by the FAA, plus enough extra fuel for any other problems, such as expected airborne holding or ATC reroutes caused by weather or traffic. The last item is the hard part because it requires an educated guess about the factors that will affect the flight.
American Airlines management recently sent a memo to their flight dispatchers that sparked an interesting discussion on one of my favorite websites, airliners.net. In a nutshell, the memo says management will be studying each dispatcher’s average fuel loads and counseling those who consistently add too much extra fuel, as defined by certain criteria. Management believes that in general, AA could still operate safely with less extra fuel. Reading through this discussion will give you great insight into my job.