Narrative:

The flight was originally scheduled for a gear down ferry. When preparing the packet noticed an MEL item advising 'flaps half speed'. I notified maintenance that we cannot ferry with gear down if flaps system was deferred. I was notified that they would ferry with gear in the well. I prepared the packet with flaps half speed and filed FL230 with gear in the wells numbers. I then received a message from maintenance that they had cleared the MEL item and would ferry the flight with gear down. I started preparing the packet with gear down data and fuel numbers checking on icing conditions. I noticed that flight had an out time that had already passed so I called operations who confirmed he was out. I asked them to get in contact with the flight. I also put in a request with the command center to cancel flight plan and have the crew call dispatch. By the time they got hold of the tower he was already airborne. I tried to call flight on the commercial radio link but they were not able to reach them. I told them this was an emergency and asked them to go through center. I was able to finally talk to crew and requested fuel on board and asked about icing. They did not get any icing and had 9000 pounds onboard when departing. This was just 600 pounds more than minimum fuel with zero pounds of contingency fuel. They were able to receive a shortcut from ATC. I then called destination tower for any icing reports. Destination tower had no reports and the flight called in and advised they had the required fuel. Flight landed in destination without further incident. There was no communication with crew during the time he was on ground to discuss the ferry flight. The flight crew and dispatch should discuss flight packets before departure. This would clear any discrepancy of flight packets.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Confusion reigned between the reporter/dispatcher; the flight crew and maintenance regarding the appropriate planning for maintenance ferry flight for a CRJ-50.

Narrative: The flight was originally scheduled for a gear down ferry. When preparing the packet noticed an MEL item advising 'flaps half speed'. I notified maintenance that we cannot ferry with gear down if flaps system was deferred. I was notified that they would ferry with gear in the well. I prepared the packet with flaps half speed and filed FL230 with gear in the wells numbers. I then received a message from maintenance that they had cleared the MEL item and would ferry the flight with gear down. I started preparing the packet with gear down data and fuel numbers checking on icing conditions. I noticed that flight had an out time that had already passed so I called operations who confirmed he was out. I asked them to get in contact with the flight. I also put in a request with the command center to cancel flight plan and have the crew call dispatch. By the time they got hold of the Tower he was already airborne. I tried to call flight on the commercial radio link but they were not able to reach them. I told them this was an emergency and asked them to go through Center. I was able to finally talk to crew and requested fuel on board and asked about icing. They did not get any icing and had 9000 LBS onboard when departing. This was just 600 LBS more than minimum fuel with zero pounds of contingency fuel. They were able to receive a shortcut from ATC. I then called destination Tower for any icing reports. Destination Tower had no reports and the flight called in and advised they had the required fuel. Flight landed in destination without further incident. There was no communication with crew during the time he was on ground to discuss the ferry flight. The flight crew and dispatch should discuss flight packets before departure. This would clear any discrepancy of flight packets.

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.