Safety, Operational Control and Record Keeping
The regulator is looking for safety, operational control and consistent, accurate records. FleetCaptain assists with each.
Safety:
• Analysis of pre-flight conditions
• Consistent, summarized, documented flight data
• Smoothing the operation for staff and pilots
An aircraft selected for flight will have its pre-flight conditions verified. Its weight and balance will be in the envelope. Baggage rules will be satisfied. It will have a fuel level adequate for the mission, satisfying the normal or utility category of operation as needed. No maintenance items (calendar or timed items) will conflict with the planned flight time or dispatch duration. No unhanded defects will exist and deferred defects will be identified.
Flight data is documented and signed off using the Flight Authority form.
There are no pre-flight or post flight calculations to do at the dispatch counter. None by the dispatcher, none by the pilot. Error prone subtractions of dates, of maintenance times etc. are all done by the system. When the pilot returns, there is no conversion of minutes to decimal hours, or the need to determine how the flight fit into daily billing periods. The system takes care of it.
Operational Control:
- Plane is safely dispatched, with formal authorization and acknowledgements in place
- People on board, flight time, location, exercise and estimated return time are documented
A plane that is flying will be marked with a sky blue colour in the dispatch table and an overdue plane will be marked in yellow for any follow-up that may be required.
Records:
Records combine the information entered during dispatch with flight data that’s calculated when the plane returns. The dispatcher has the ability to correct anomalies but (with some exceptions) these corrections are made one line at a time. It’s as if the record is written in ink. If errors are found, such as a previous hobbs stop time doesn’t match a subsequent hobbs start time, that is flagged with a colour code making the discrepancy obvious. Any line that is changed is permanently highlighted and accompanied by a log entry to identify the change. All records are saved in a database, backed up and duplicated in an off-site location. Various reports can be generated including a daily flight record, and a variety of business tracking reports for staff and management to analyze.
