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Dispatcher reported prior to flight departure; a required alternate airport was notamed unavailable due to covid-19.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1738047 |
| Time | |
| Date | 202003 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Dispatcher |
| Qualification | Dispatch Dispatcher |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
At turn over aircraft X had ZZZZ listed as their southern ETOPS alternate. Was advised that flight was released with ZZZ and ZZZZ as their ETOPS alternate and ZZZZ has a NOTAM that states ZZZZ is not available as an alternate.[dispatcher] called and spoke with the tower and was not given a clear answer if we can use ZZZZ as an emergency airport. After taking over the flight told crew not to depart until I was able to correct ETOPS alternate. Was able to send all weather and numbers to crew and changed ETOPS alternate to ZZZ. Flight departed 10 mins late.during planning of flight; ZZZZ NOTAM said it was not to be used as an alternate due to covid-19. Since an ETOPS alternate is an emergency situation I felt it was appropriate to use. The other airport ZZZZ1 had it runway closed during the ETOPS window. And the other airport ZZZ1 I felt had erratic weather observations; so I felt ZZZZ was the best choice. I called the tower to discuss using them as an airport in case of an inflight emergency. The tower controller passed me on to the manager. When I talked to him I got a vague response that an ife would be ok to use ZZZZ as an alternate. After the fact other ground operations control personnel had phone conversations with ZZZZ; whereas ZZZZ could not be used as an ETOPS alternate. After shift turn over dispatcher had to change the ETOPS alternate.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Dispatcher reported prior to flight departure; a required alternate airport was NOTAMed unavailable due to COVID-19.
Narrative: At turn over Aircraft X had ZZZZ listed as their southern ETOPS alternate. Was advised that flight was released with ZZZ and ZZZZ as their ETOPS alternate and ZZZZ has a NOTAM that states ZZZZ is not available as an alternate.[Dispatcher] called and spoke with the tower and was not given a clear answer if we can use ZZZZ as an emergency airport. After taking over the flight told crew not to depart until I was able to correct ETOPS alternate. Was able to send all weather and numbers to crew and changed ETOPS alternate to ZZZ. Flight departed 10 mins late.During planning of flight; ZZZZ NOTAM said it was not to be used as an alternate due to covid-19. Since an ETOPS alternate is an emergency situation I felt it was appropriate to use. the other airport ZZZZ1 had it runway closed during the ETOPS window. And the other airport ZZZ1 I felt had erratic weather observations; so I felt ZZZZ was the best choice. I called the tower to discuss using them as an airport in case of an inflight emergency. The tower controller passed me on to the manager. When I talked to him I got a vague response that an IFE would be ok to use ZZZZ as an alternate. After the fact other Ground Operations Control personnel had phone conversations with ZZZZ; whereas ZZZZ could not be used as an ETOPS alternate. After shift turn over Dispatcher had to change the ETOPS alternate.
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.