Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - Questions about dispatch services

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations | Questions about dispatch services

DVA8757
Captain, MD-11
OLP

Joined on June 20 2010
50 State Club
Century Club

"It isn't what you do, but how you do it."
Southaven, MS USA

160 legs, 251.3 hours
77 legs, 116.9 hours online
160 legs, 251.3 hours ACARS

Posted onPost created on March 15 2011 10:55 ET by Don Abernathy

Is there any way to determine if dispatch modified my flight plan without me knowing it? I noticed last night when I was inbound to KATL that the Approach Controller asked about my arrival pattern as if I wasn't following my correct flight plan by his statement "confirm you are on the ERLIN8 arrival". Once I landed and filed my report, I specifically went back to review my ACARS and VATSIM flight plans and noticed this added to my ACARS flight plan that I did not add:
Arrival Route ERLIN8.BNA

Since I was departing out of KMEM, going to KBNA would have been out of the way and is also a completely separate path along the ERLIN8 arrival. I know that there were storms over the Huntsville, AL area but aircraft on Flight Aware were going right over the storms.

I guess there are a couple of questions:
1. Did or perhaps dispatch modify this?
2. How or when would I have known I should have modified my path? I did not request dispatch services.
3. To be honest, I never have requested dispatch services. Who does and what is the benefit when you can get most of what you need from Vroute or FlightAware?

Don Abernathy (DVA8757)

DVA7343
Captain, B777-200
OLP

Joined on May 16 2009
50 State Club
Globetrotter
Triple Century Club

"It's not a job but an adventure "
Lugoff, SC USA

368 legs, 798.4 hours
39 legs, 73.8 hours online
358 legs, 777.7 hours ACARS
1 legs, 2.9 hours event

Posted onPost created on March 15 2011 11:52 ET by John Morris

Don if you left from MEM why did you fly ERLIN8.BNA instead of the ERLIN8.MEM this was a more direct route and would raise a question from a controller about routing plus if you look at flightaware you will see 10 KMEM KATL FL250 - FL330 MEM J66 RMG ERLIN8 339 sm so Nashville is not part of the flight plan

John Morris

Captain, B777-200

Posted onPost created on March 15 2011 12:23 ET by Don Abernathy

John Morris wrote:

Don if you left from MEM why did you fly ERLIN8.BNA instead of the ERLIN8.MEM this was a more direct route and would raise a question from a controller about routing plus if you look at flightaware you will see 10 KMEM KATL FL250 - FL330 MEM J66 RMG ERLIN8 339 sm so Nashville is not part of the flight plan

I guess I was a little vague - I did fly the MEM to RMG direct then ERLIN8 route. The route I had entered into both ACARS and my FP was:
J66 RMG ERLIN8.

I noticed that the ERLIN8.BNA was on my PIREP report as if someone else added it because I did not (at least knowingly I did not). When I checked my report after the flight was complete, it was showing that I was supposed to have gone through BNA, resulting in my confussion.

http://www.deltava.org/pirep.do?id=0x9a3e9

Posted onPost created on March 15 2011 12:42 ET by John Morris

Hopefully one of the dispatchers will chime in with a solution

John Morris

Captain, B777-200

DVA3196
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP, COMM

Joined on June 03 2006
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
Six Century Club

"pitchpowertrim.com"
Anderson, MO

619 legs, 1,093.4 hours
292 legs, 503.1 hours online
580 legs, 1,026.5 hours ACARS
89 legs, 191.0 hours event
236 legs dispatched, 110.1 hours

Posted onPost created on March 15 2011 12:43 ET by Michael Brown

Dispatch doesn't have the capability to alter your flight plan without your knowledge. The only thing we can do is offer you a route and fuel load, but only after you specifically request it, and even then you have the option to refuse or cancel service.

Also, ACARS has nothing to do with the flight plan you file on VATSIM. The only flight plan that a VATSIM controller will see is the one you submit via SquawkBox or FSInn. What you input into ACARS only impacts your PIREP.

Michael Brown (DVA3196)

Posted onPost created on March 15 2011 13:50 ET by Don Abernathy

That's what I thought, but I could certainly sense a questioning tone from Approach about my arrival pattern--perhaps since ERLIN8 was recently updated from ERLIN6, maybe he was wanting to make sure which one I was using.

I guess I accidentally added the ERLIN8.BNA when completing the FP in ACARS but I sure didn't mean to. I thought perhaps this was dispatch's way to tell me to divert around the weather.

Don Abernathy (DVA8757)

DVA853
Senior Captain, B747-400
OLP
E-MAIL

Joined on September 26 2002
50 State Club
Tin Dispatcher
Globetrotter
Two Million Mile Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
US Coastal Club
Toulouse Millennium Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Online Twenty Century
Cascadia Club

Rincon, GA

2,207 legs, 6,359.7 hours
2,186 legs, 6,317.8 hours online
2,175 legs, 6,226.6 hours ACARS
2 legs, 10.0 hours event
376 legs dispatched, 185.3 hours

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 08:27 ET by Chris Hannigan

Like Michael said, we offer the route that goes into ACARS, and sometimes it can be tricky to decipher. Most of the time when I dispatch, I'll send a chat message with the entire text route so the pilot can copy/paste that into VATSIM. It's not entirely impossible tho that you were dispatched with BNA as the transition. It's not ideal, but it's not impossible.

Chris Hannigan

Senior Captain, B747-400

DVA1379
Senior Captain, B747-400
OLP

Joined on November 07 2003
50 State Club
Event Half Century Club
Online Fifteen Century
Bi-Millennium Club
Everett Millennium Club
Corn Belt Club
Three Million Mile Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary

Western United States

2,767 legs, 8,109.7 hours
1,836 legs, 4,363.9 hours online
2,231 legs, 6,606.3 hours ACARS
58 legs, 136.4 hours event

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 10:13 ET by Kyle Weber

Chris Hannigan wrote:

Most of the time when I dispatch, I'll send a chat message with the entire text route so the pilot can copy/paste that into VATSIM.

I hope we can make that dispatch SOP one day. It really discourages me from using dispatch when I just have a list of fixes rather than the associated airways. (I understand the convenience for FS GPS and such but it's difficult to transfer that into an FMC/VATSIM flightplan).

Kyle Weber (DVA1379)

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 10:27 ET by Chris Hannigan

It's a great enhancement request! I'll send a ticket into Luke for consideration.

Chris Hannigan

Senior Captain, B747-400

DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP

Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club

"Col. Panic"
Marietta, GA

2,317 legs, 9,330.6 hours
240 legs, 553.9 hours online
1,975 legs, 8,123.7 hours ACARS
75 legs, 196.3 hours event
2,353 legs, 9,465.5 hours total
91 legs dispatched, 66.4 hours

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 12:08 ET by Luke Kolin

Two things - first, the PIREP in question didn't use dispatch. The ACARS server will look at RMG and ERLIN8 and attempt to find the right version of the ERLIN8 (or ERLIN*) STAR that has RMG as a waypoint if the specific STAR wasn't filed.

Second, there is NO reason why dispatchers should be sending out chat messages with the full route. This is a bug in Build 98 that has been resolved in the Build 99 betas. If it has not, please reopen the issue (either Kyle or Chris opened it) and I will fix it.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

DVA613
Senior Captain, B727-200
OLP, VFRADV

Joined on June 17 2002
50 State Club
Events Century Club
Million Mile Club
US Coastal Club
US Mountaineer Club
Commuter Conquest
Globetrotter
Everett Millennium Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Online Twenty Century
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary

"Beware of the Green Baron!"
Charlotte, NC USA

2,481 legs, 3,989.8 hours
2,300 legs, 3,608.8 hours online
2,114 legs, 3,150.8 hours ACARS
130 legs, 238.7 hours event
165 legs dispatched, 103.9 hours

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 15:12 ET by David Keech

Ditto what Luke says, pirep is not showing a Dispatcher coordinated this flight. Not to cast stones, but I can't see in your logbook anywhere where you have used Dispatch services, either automated or live person. I'm not really clear on your statements then.

Kyle, give Dispatch a run one one, you'll be pleased with what you see. If using payware aircraft with MCDU/FMC, you'll still need to enter the route, as we don't have the ability to write files for each payware company.

Luke has done amazing things with this program and I wish more people used it.

David Keech (DVA613)

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 15:44 ET by Chris Hannigan

Luke Kolin wrote:

Second, there is NO reason why dispatchers should be sending out chat messages with the full route. This is a bug in Build 98 that has been resolved in the Build 99 betas.
Cheers!

Oh cool! I had no idea that was fixed. Awesome then.

Chris Hannigan

Senior Captain, B747-400

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 19:02 ET by Kyle Weber

Just confirm then Build 99 is not available yet to the public? I only still see 98 in the library.

Kyle Weber (DVA1379)

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 19:42 ET by Luke Kolin

It's available, but not a final release: http://www.deltava.org/thread.do?id=0x182e2

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 20:50 ET by Don Abernathy

David Keech wrote:

Not to cast stones, but I can't see in your logbook anywhere where you have used Dispatch services, either automated or live person. I'm not really clear on your statements then.

As I stated in my opening post:

Don Abernathy wrote:

3. To be honest, I never have requested dispatch services. Who does and what is the benefit when you can get most of what you need from Vroute or FlightAware?

My initial question was asking if dispatch added the ERLIN8.BNA in an attempt to ask me to divert weather, something in the program or an error on my part. I believe Luke provided the response I was attempting to obtain.

Don Abernathy (DVA8757)

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 20:57 ET by David Keech

Fair enough. Glad that's settled.

David Keech (DVA613)

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 22:14 ET by Kyle Weber

Luke Kolin wrote:

It's available, but not a final release: http://www.deltava.org/thread.do?id=0x182e2

Cheers!

I suppose I'll wait until it's final then. Thanks.

Kyle Weber (DVA1379)

Posted onPost created on March 16 2011 22:58 ET by Luke Kolin

Fair enough. There's going to be at least one more beta revision to handle i18n issues with non-US locales and the route map, but we're getting close to done.

I really don't want to do any more work on the ACARS2 code base.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

DVA9603
Captain, A320

Joined on March 17 2011

Plains, PA USA

Posted onPost created on April 17 2011 17:20 ET by Michael Sokolas

How do you become a dispatcher?

Michael Sokolas

Captain, A320

DVA8052
Captain, B727-200
OLP

Joined on December 07 2009
50 State Club
Century Club

Bouvet Island

110 legs, 187.1 hours
91 legs, 160.1 hours online
110 legs, 187.1 hours ACARS
19 legs, 31.7 hours event

Posted onPost created on April 18 2011 04:55 ET by Trent Stevens

Keep an eye on the Water Cooler and Career Opportunities page. Staff with advertise when there are openings.

Trent Stevens

Captain, B727-200

For flight simulation purposes only. Not a commercial website. In no way are we affiliated with Delta Air Lines, its affiliates, or any other airline. All logos, images, and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Delta Virtual Airlines is a non-profit entity engaged in providing an avenue for flight simulation enthusiasts.