By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations A friend once texted me mid-flight: “There’s a loud thunk under the plane. Are we going to die?” I texted back after she landed: “That was the landing gear. You were never in danger. You were hearing the airplane doing exactly … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations Flight cancellation decisions are one of the most complex parts of airline operations. They involve safety, legal constraints, and operational trade-offs that are not visible to passengers. A flight cancellation is not a decision made lightly. It is not made by … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations Here is something most passengers do not know: every single commercial flight I have ever planned�every one of the tens of thousands I have dispatched in 15 years�was planned with the assumption that an engine might fail. Not because engine failure … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations Flying in snow is one of the most operationally complex challenges in aviation… It was a December morning, and New Chitose Airport in Sapporo was disappearing. Not gradually�rapidly. The METAR I pulled at 08:00 local showed 3,000 meters visibility with light … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations If you’re flying to Japan, Taiwan, or Southeast Asia during typhoon season, there’s one question that matters most: Will your flight be cancelled? The answer is not random�and it’s not decided at the last minute. After 15 years managing typhoon disruptions … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations You have been descending for twenty minutes. You felt the landing gear drop�that reassuring thunk. Through the window, you can see the runway. Houses, cars, the airport fence. You are almost there. You tighten your seatbelt. Ten more seconds and you … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations A few months ago, a friend called me the night before her flight to Tokyo. She had seen a news report about a plane crash somewhere in the world, and she was terrified. “Be honest with me,” she said. “Is flying … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations The ACARS message came in at 22:47 local time: “REQUEST DIVERSION CLK. PAX MEDICAL EMERGENCY. ADVISE.” I was three hours into a night shift. The flight was an Incheon-to-Manila service, about 90 minutes from landing. A passenger had collapsed in the … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations You are sitting at the gate. Your boarding time was 10 minutes ago. The screen flickers. “DELAYED � New departure time: to be confirmed.” No explanation. No one at the counter seems to know anything. The passenger next to you mutters, … Read more
By Aeruxo � Licensed flight dispatcher (study guide) | 15+ Years in Airline Operations I still remember the first time I sat down at an OCC workstation and realized: this is where every flight is planned and monitored. Not at the boarding gate, not in the cockpit�but right here, in a windowless room full of … Read more