An air carrier dispatcher reported that ATC and the tsa took operational control of a flight before ...

Narrative:

During my shift I got a call from the captain. He was calling on his cellphone from the cockpit and told me he was #1 for takeoff and wanted to know why he was being told to return to the gate. I knew nothing about it and asked him who was telling him to do that. He said it was ATC and they were giving him no reason for it. He was also concerned about his minimum takeoff fuel. I told him to hold off returning to the gate until I found out what was going on and said I would amend his minimum takeoff fuel if needed. I then went to the ATC coordinator's desk to ask why ATC was telling the flight to return to the gate. They knew nothing about it either but said they would call tower to find out. I then went back to my desk and sent the flight an amended minimum takeoff fuel and told him to hold off returning until I found out what was going on.a couple of minutes later I was summoned back to the ATC desk and told there was a hijack threat against the flight. By that time the dispatch manager was on the phone getting information as well. After he hung up I asked him if I should tell the flight to return to the gate and he told me to hold off until he got more information. Meanwhile the flight was in limbo waiting to hear back from me on what to do. About 10 minutes later the dispatch manager told me to have the flight return to the gate and I relayed that to the captain via ACARS. After that the aircraft was ordered to a remote area of the ramp where the authorities took over.I feel there was a total loss of operational control on this flight. ATC and tsa assumed operational control and I; as the dispatcher of the flight; was left out of the loop. I got all of my information on what was happening from second hand sources and at no time did anyone call me directly to inform me of what was happening with the flight. I t took probably 15 minutes before I had enough information to tell the captain; who was apparently also kept out of the loop; to return to the gate because of a possible security issue.dispatcher should be informed directly of threats against his or her flight in order to maintain adequate operational control over flights.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier Dispatcher reported that ATC and the TSA took operational control of a flight before takeoff and ordered it back to the gate because of a security threat but did not inform the carrier of its action.

Narrative: During my shift I got a call from the Captain. He was calling on his cellphone from the cockpit and told me he was #1 for takeoff and wanted to know why he was being told to return to the gate. I knew nothing about it and asked him who was telling him to do that. He said it was ATC and they were giving him no reason for it. He was also concerned about his minimum takeoff fuel. I told him to hold off returning to the gate until I found out what was going on and said I would amend his minimum takeoff fuel if needed. I then went to the ATC coordinator's desk to ask why ATC was telling the flight to return to the gate. They knew nothing about it either but said they would call Tower to find out. I then went back to my desk and sent the flight an amended minimum takeoff fuel and told him to hold off returning until I found out what was going on.A couple of minutes later I was summoned back to the ATC desk and told there was a hijack threat against the flight. By that time the Dispatch Manager was on the phone getting information as well. After he hung up I asked him if I should tell the flight to return to the gate and he told me to hold off until he got more information. Meanwhile the flight was in limbo waiting to hear back from me on what to do. About 10 minutes later the Dispatch Manager told me to have the flight return to the gate and I relayed that to the Captain via ACARS. After that the aircraft was ordered to a remote area of the ramp where the authorities took over.I feel there was a total loss of operational control on this flight. ATC and TSA assumed operational control and I; as the Dispatcher of the flight; was left out of the loop. I got all of my information on what was happening from second hand sources and at no time did anyone call me directly to inform me of what was happening with the flight. I t took probably 15 minutes before I had enough information to tell the Captain; who was apparently also kept out of the loop; to return to the gate because of a possible security issue.Dispatcher should be informed directly of threats against his or her flight in order to maintain adequate operational control over flights.

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	905889
Time
Date	201008
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Security Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

An air carrier dispatcher reported that ATC and the tsa took operational control of a flight before takeoff and ordered it back to the gate because of a security threat but did not inform the carrier of its action.