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CRJ200 dispatchers described a computer outage that resulted in the loss of operational control of the airborne aircraft they were flight following. Management did not want to delay any flights that were ready to pushback at the hub; even though the dispatchers could not communicate with or monitor the flights they were responsible for.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1290870 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201508 |
| Environment | |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200) |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Dispatcher |
| Qualification | Dispatch Dispatcher |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Dispatcher |
| Qualification | Dispatch Dispatcher |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
Today; all dispatchers' dispatch monitors and plots went out of service. The following abilities were lost: flight planning; fuel calculations; ACARS; flight following abilities; emergency/diversion planning (only communication was via company radio if any aircraft happened to be on the frequency). The incident span was close to 20-25 minutes and during it; I had one flight in air. My flight landed without any issues or disruptions but if any irregularities in operation were to occur; I would not have any way of knowing. During this incident; some of the dispatchers were told by management and a dispatch coordinator to continue operation with such limited abilities. In such circumstances dispatchers` operational control under far 121.533 should not be undermined.primary reason I am reporting in this issue is to prevent the recurrence of it; or any other system failure that may degrade the amount safety I can provide my flights and I would like to see some sort of fail-safe protocol in placed and would like to prevent dispatchers taking undesired action under the pressure of peer or management.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: CRJ200 dispatchers described a computer outage that resulted in the loss of operational control of the airborne aircraft they were flight following. Management did not want to delay any flights that were ready to pushback at the hub; even though the dispatchers could not communicate with or monitor the flights they were responsible for.
Narrative: Today; all dispatchers' dispatch monitors and plots went out of service. The following abilities were lost: flight planning; fuel calculations; ACARS; flight following abilities; emergency/diversion planning (only communication was via company radio IF any aircraft HAPPENED to be on the frequency). The incident span was close to 20-25 minutes and during it; I had one flight in air. My flight landed without any issues or disruptions but if any irregularities in operation were to occur; I would not have any way of knowing. During this incident; some of the dispatchers were told by management and a dispatch coordinator to continue operation with such limited abilities. In such circumstances dispatchers` operational control under FAR 121.533 should not be undermined.Primary reason I am reporting in this issue is to prevent the recurrence of it; or any other system failure that may degrade the amount safety I can provide my flights and I would like to see some sort of fail-safe protocol in placed and would like to prevent dispatchers taking undesired action under the pressure of peer or management.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.