Man, talk about making things complicated.

 

PL is still around, had a run in with him back in July. Very unprofessional. I was flying MEM-ANC and requested 2k lbs uplift. He argued with me saying I didn't need it. I was taken aback, because in the 10 years I've been a Capt, I've never had an issues with a dispatcher about adding fuel. He wasn't happy, but the fuel was added. 5 mins before push, no fuel. He thought I would go without my fuel. I acars'ed him and told him we were ready to go and where is my fuel. He did not respond but 10 mins later a fuel truck arrived. WE took a 25 min delay because of him. BTW, we used all the extra and more. WX in ANC changed and we were not able to climb to planned FL.Later in the trip I heard another Capt in CAN going to DEL arguing with PL because he didn't want to add fuel. I've talked to several Capt's now who have had a run in with PL and his antics.

 

Review 121.663. Don't sign release until you determine it is safe to do so.

 

I never really thought of it as a request! I simply call up and say I am adding Xlbs of fuel.

 

I'd like to add real data. I was the F/O shutting down at KLAX with 7200 lbs on a MD-11. The original destination was KONT, diverted due to actual windshear. No windshear was predicted (at KONT). For those non-mad dog flyers, emergency fuel is 11,000 lbs. (I've been told below 9,000 lbs, you really don't know what you have). The scheduled fuel at KONT overhead was 17,000.
In case you don't believe me, I have the picture of the fuel page in my Iphone. I do occasinally show them to reluctant fuel uplifting crewmembers.
Fly safe

 

I don't remember the name. As a Captain for 7 years at FedEx, I have only had my fuel uplift request questioned once, and I was flabbergasted that the guy argued with me on the phone. Very resistant and argumentative.

Normally I try to look at scheduled load, Flight level, and look at their contingency fuel, terminal area distance, etc, and not just FOD. In this case, this guy had no contingency, no significant terminal area distance, and planned 55 mins of fuel FOD, which equated to 13.5K in an MD-10-10 at KLAX for an afternoon arrival!

Eventually I said that we wouldn't step unless he agreed to the uplift. I won't go into the details of the conversation, but it became painfully obvious that it is a numbers thing and not a reality thing, and not uplifting fuel was really important to him. By far he was the singular exception. I find our dispatchers pretty great.

 

When asked by dispatch WHY? am I requesting more fuel. I tell them please annotate one word only --experience. First pilot licence at 19 am 58, 39 years.

Numerous dispatchers are internal FDX hires. They (for example ) work in box dept X. They can get a dispatch licence (near $3K) and FDX will pay for the training. It takes about 2 week in, say Texas. Then they can earn big bucks doing an office job. This was especially true when we were supplemental vice flag.

 

First off GOC does not have an "incentive" plan for not giving you gas. Extra fuel above 10 minutes (with the exception of operational/economic tankering) does flag a report that is distributed daily. GOC Management does not penalize/question a dispatcher with how much fuel he/she puts on.
The ACF program is one of the fuel sense initiatives designed to help the company save money.
As far as fuel uplifts, believe it or not, dispatchers are required (as are the captains) to provide a reason for a fuel uplift PRIOR to uplifting fuel (it's written that way in the FOM). If you ignore your dispatcher as someone had mentioned, guess what? That is a violation of 121.533 and/or 121.535 - Joint Operational Control (depending on if you are flying a flag or domestic flight). A dispatcher who has worked at other airlines (like myself and PL), often wonder WHY a crewmember is uplifting gas. Primarily we are trying to figure out if there was something we missed during the pre-planning of a flight.

FedEx is very liberal with regards to dispatchers not questioning the Captains of a flight. At many airlines, the only time a Captain is not questioned is when exercising emergency deviation authority. As pilots, you should WANT to talk to your dispatcher prior to EVERY flight. In turn, dispatchers should WANT to talk to their pilots. It enhances CRM/DRM and when decisions need to be made, everyone can work off the same page.

 

I appreciate hearing the perspective of a dispatcher, and I don't have any problem with coordinating decisions with my dispatcher, including fuel uplifts. I'd like to hear about any NOTAMS or weather features that I should pay close attention to -- I might have missed something in my review of the flight plan, weather, and NOTAMS that were prepared by the dispatcher. I might have a question about the particular routing or the decision to include or not include an alternate. The thing is, usually when I call the dispatcher to talk about adding the fuel, he/she sounds like they're in a big hurry and just want to give me time and initials and be done with it. I wonder if all of us spent 3 to 5 minutes on the phone with our dispatchers before each flight if there would be enough dispatchers to go around.

You said, "The ACF program is one of the fuel sense initiatives designed to help the company save money." To be clear, we save money by carrying less fuel. Carrying less fuel is the objective of the program. There is no consideration to how much fuel will remain in the tanks in the event of a missed approach and subsequent second approach and landing. There is no consideration for how much fuel will remain if we have to deviate laterally or vertically from the flight-planned route for weather, ATC, or other considerations. There is no consideration for how lousy approach control is at sequencing airplanes into an airport (say, Memphis, for example) on published constant descent arrivals. So, dispatchers schedule fuel for the ideal world where everything works and the first landing is perfect, and pilots add fuel for the real world.


Maybe you can genuinely claim that there is no incentive for not giving us gas, if you're referring to giving it to us when we ask for more. But when it comes to the initial plan constituted by the Flight Plan, what you describe is even worse. You said, "Extra fuel above 10 minutes (with the exception of operational/economic tankering) does flag a report that is distributed daily." Of course, nobody wants their name to be on that report. Nobody wants their name to be on the report repeatedly. A dispatcher who sees a need for extra is motivated by that report to not add it, and cross his fingers that the Captain will. I'm not sure that's a healthy paradigm.


Out of curiosity, exactly what metrics ARE used to determine your bonuses and pay raises during your performance reviews? Surely FedEx wants efficient, reliable, cost-conscious dispatchers. How does FedEx motivate them with pay?






.

 

Plane Fan. NICE first post! We know that you are given more flights than you can handle. We know you can not adequately check for air mets/sigmet (especially severe turbulence), and not notams for : ILS out or main RWY closed. You are to busy.

So you just spit out numerous pre made Jepp flight plans. ( Maybe we need more dispatchers?? or some with more experience??)

Mostly we are OK with this. The lack of flight following like a true dispatcher we are used to.

What we don't care for is when you cop an attitude. Or forget that when we call, you are sitting at a desk and we are in a jet moving hundreds of miles per hour.