A dispatcher reported that his air carrier's system for maintaining operational contact between disp...

Narrative:

Failed communication contact between a flight and myself. I tried contacting this flight due to a convective SIGMET that his route showed him going through. Tops were around FL390 and these embedded thunderstorms were moving from 210 degrees at 30K. First try via company radio failed because they were unable to raise him. Second attempt was via commercial radio service provider; which also failed. The commercial provider called back fifteen minutes later with initial contact but was not able to hold patch. Five minutes later flight called back via company radio. They climbed to FL380 from FL360 to get above the weather. I feel that according to far 121.99 I was not able to relay information in a timely manner. Our communication system is not rapid or reliable and; in addition; consumes time needed from other flights with potential issues. I would like to see an enhancement to our communication abilities so that I can pass information in a timely manner and help other flights without further delay!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Dispatcher reported that his air carrier's system for maintaining operational contact between dispatchers and the flights for which they are responsible is unreliable and time consuming; resulting in an inability to provide services required by the FARs.

Narrative: Failed communication contact between a flight and myself. I tried contacting this flight due to a Convective SIGMET that his route showed him going through. Tops were around FL390 and these embedded thunderstorms were moving from 210 degrees at 30K. First try via company radio failed because they were unable to raise him. Second attempt was via commercial radio service provider; which also failed. The commercial provider called back fifteen minutes later with initial contact but was not able to hold patch. Five minutes later flight called back via company radio. They climbed to FL380 from FL360 to get above the weather. I feel that according to FAR 121.99 I was not able to relay information in a timely manner. Our communication system is not rapid or reliable and; in addition; consumes time needed from other flights with potential issues. I would like to see an enhancement to our communication abilities so that I can pass information in a timely manner and help other flights without further delay!

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.

Attributes
ACN	843872
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Dawn
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet CL65 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air/Ground Communication
Person 1
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A dispatcher reported that his air carrier's system for maintaining operational contact between dispatchers and the flights for which they are responsible is unreliable and time consuming; resulting in an inability to provide services required by the fars.