Narrative:

We were dealing with an extreme weather event in cvg on for a long period of time. Trying to deal with many; many flights at the same time and trying to produce releases for flights in the new york area at the same time; I noticed that the weather in cvg was not improving and in fact getting worse and legally all flights at a certain time needed an alternate. I noticed that a flight of mine was past departure time and no times were in which generally means they are out but the station has not put times in. I quickly noticed I cannot let this flight depart with the weather at cvg and that I needed to get a hold of the crew or the station to add fuel and brief the crew which last time I checked is what the description of my job is and is bound under far's. I called the station at least 50 times and got no answer. I even called the ATC tower in a dozen times and no answer. I called the station manager at home; no answer. Finally her daughter answered the phone at home. Last time I checked that is a loss of operational control. Anyway finally the station manager picked up her cell at the last second and told me the flight had pushed and I told her to bring it back to the gate. I should not have to call 60 times to get hold of someone. Finally the captain called me back and I explained what was going on. She was unaware of the weather and was glad I caught her.this happens at different stations throughout the system all the time and due to cutbacks the operations agents are outside working flights and that is in direct violation of operational control. Yesterday I was very lucky that that flight did not get airborne. This is getting to be ridiculous and I believe that the airplanes need either ACARS or cell call which is probably more cost efficient to fix this problem so that we can communicate with the crews effectively. No communication risks safety of flight; it puts passengers at risk and puts the dispatcher at risk. If you don't invest you don't get.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dispatcher reports difficulty contacting a crew to add an alternate and more fuel due to a heavily weather impacted destination. Lack of ACARS or SELCAL and over worked station personnel are cited as contributing to the problem.

Narrative: We were dealing with an extreme weather event in CVG on for a long period of time. Trying to deal with many; many flights at the same time and trying to produce releases for flights in the New York area at the same time; I noticed that the weather in CVG was not improving and in fact getting worse and legally all flights at a certain time needed an alternate. I noticed that a flight of mine was past departure time and no times were in which generally means they are out but the station has not put times in. I quickly noticed I cannot let this flight depart with the weather at CVG and that I needed to get a hold of the crew or the station to add fuel and brief the crew which last time I checked is what the description of my job is and is bound under FAR's. I called the station at least 50 times and got no answer. I even called the ATC tower in a dozen times and no answer. I called the Station Manager at home; no answer. Finally her daughter answered the phone at home. Last time I checked that is a loss of operational control. Anyway finally the station manager picked up her cell at the last second and told me the flight had pushed and I told her to bring it back to the gate. I should not have to call 60 times to get hold of someone. Finally the Captain called me back and I explained what was going on. She was unaware of the weather and was glad I caught her.This happens at different stations throughout the system all the time and due to cutbacks the operations agents are outside working flights and that is in direct violation of operational control. Yesterday I was very lucky that that flight did not get airborne. This is getting to be ridiculous and I believe that the airplanes need either ACARS or cell call which is probably more cost efficient to fix this problem so that we can communicate with the crews effectively. No communication risks safety of flight; it puts passengers at risk and puts the dispatcher at risk. If you don't invest you don't get.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.