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Dispatcher took exception to a sector manager's decision not to transfer a flight with an ill passenger on board to the dispatcher's desk.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1373471 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201607 |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-800 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Dispatcher |
| Qualification | Dispatch Dispatcher |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness |
Narrative:
Flight reported via ACARS that passenger in seat 7C was unresponsive for a few minutes-she is back but weak. Physician on board is caring for her. Dispatcher sent msg that he copied. Eleven minutes later a sector manager approached my desk and told me that physician on call had called him about the incident and he had the information. When I asked him why he did not transfer the flight to the desk he said that it was his impression that the flight had tried to contact dispatch and that he thought they were having trouble and did not want to transfer for fear of losing the connection. I advised him at that time that he was infringing on operational control. What if the flight wanted to land somewhere that was not acceptable for the passenger or the operation. What if the flight needed to land immediately to save the passengers life and this caused a needless delay. Not sure the sector manager understood all the ramifications of not transferring the flight to the desk.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Dispatcher took exception to a sector manager's decision not to transfer a flight with an ill passenger on board to the dispatcher's desk.
Narrative: Flight reported via ACARS that passenger in seat 7C was unresponsive for a few minutes-she is back but weak. Physician on board is caring for her. Dispatcher sent msg that he copied. Eleven minutes later a sector manager approached my desk and told me that physician on call had called him about the incident and he had the information. When I asked him why he did not transfer the flight to the desk he said that it was his impression that the flight had tried to contact dispatch and that he thought they were having trouble and did not want to transfer for fear of losing the connection. I advised him at that time that he was infringing on operational control. What if the flight wanted to land somewhere that was not acceptable for the passenger or the operation. What if the flight needed to land immediately to save the passengers life and this caused a needless delay. Not sure the sector manager understood all the ramifications of not transferring the flight to the desk.
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.