dispatcher vs. redcap?

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killerwhale65
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dispatcher vs. redcap?

Post by killerwhale65 »

Hi,

i was wondering what the difference is between a dispatcher and a redcap? What are each his responsabilities and duties?

thanks!
Matthias Thoen
MicroWings - Aviation Hobby Store

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744rules
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Post by 744rules »

I think , in Europe, both are used for the same jobdescription. In the UK dispatcher is used, in France they talk about a "coordo" (as in coordinator), SN used redcap and I heard loadcontroller as well.

Basically, this person is in charge for the turnround :

- making the loading instruction
- making loadsheet
- cockpit crew briefing
- co-ordination with different services (cleaning, catering, fuelling, paxservice,...)

For widebodies/longhauls/full-cargo there mostly is a person at the office, working thru all the paperwork, and another at the a/c-side.

In the USA, they talk about a flightdispatcher. This person is in charge of the flightplanning. For this job you need a FAA-license.

Hope this helps a bit. If more questions, feel free to ask.

:wink:

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Jumbolino
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Post by Jumbolino »

back in SR times, they (ZRH Ops) used the word Dispatcher as well for Flightdispatcher and not for the Loadcontroller

waldova
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Post by waldova »

At BGS we use the following:

Redcap: - fills in loadsheet and does all the calculations
- he does the turnaround of the aircraft

Actually he is in charge for everything happening at the aiplane.

The dispatcher is the person who organizes everything from the office. He assigns flights to the redcap.

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Zorba
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Post by Zorba »

waldova :

Does the dispatcher is only at it's office, or does he comes to planes also? Seems a very interesting job to me!

Regards,
Rutger
Tot hier en verder

website-info
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Post by website-info »

Hi All,

A Flight Dispatcher (in the USA) is a highly trained job, training is very similar to what a Pilot takes, up until he gets in the sim to fly. Although in traing to be a FAA licensed dispatcher you do have approx 5 hours in a sim. On a shift you are normally responsible for several flights, you have the same responsiblity as the pilot, you are his eyes and ears for everything he cannot see, especially the weather. For instance, you will brief the crew for their flight, taking special note of weather and forecasts, once the flight is airbourne, you watch the weather for the destination all the time, if at some point you see it getting worse you advise the crew to divert someplace else.

The importance of the job (in the USA, it's very dumbed down and underpaid in Europe) is reflected in the salary, where after training and experience a Dispatcher tends to earn less than a four stripe pilot but more than a three stripe pilot - or at least I used too :-)

The training is very intense, alot of maths and studying but once you have a FAA Dispatcher ticket, there are endless job possiblities, some companies will even help to get you a green card in the USA. The FAA ticket is also regonised by many CAA's around the world as well.

Another plus side (which is unfortunately changing :( ) was the fact that you could more or less fly for free within the USA, just by walking up to the gate, showing your licence to the crew/staff you used to be able to get a cockpit jump seat on any flight !!! But post 9/11 things have changed there, although some airlines will still recognise it, especially crago carriers,

If anyone wants more info on FAA Dispatcher training etc drop me a line,

Rgds
Tony

killerwhale65
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Post by killerwhale65 »

thanks for the comments.

one more question: who does the pushback (at BRU)? I thout that was the dispatcher, but i guess not ...
Matthias Thoen
MicroWings - Aviation Hobby Store

SN30952
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Re: dispatcher vs. redcap?

Post by SN30952 »

killerwhale65 wrote:Hi, i was wondering what the difference is between a dispatcher and a redcap? What are each his responsabilities and duties?
thanks!
Have a look at this:
http://www.your-airline-job.co.uk/

Note:
the difference is between a dispatcher and a redcap?
The redcap has a red cap and the dispatcher has a red pen!
That's for insiders? :wink:

waldova
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Post by waldova »

No no, the dispatcher stays in the office. Only on special occasions when short on personal this person could also perform the job of a redcap. All dispatchers are trained redcaps also.

The pushback is performed by the MOPer. This is totally different from the redcap. He is also helping with uloading and loading of the aircraft. In the times of Sabena they would only be pushing airplanes and they have black sign on his clothes.
A redcap has red and special assistance has green.
Also exist: orange, bleu, bleu-orange. These are all for the bagage service.

killerwhale65
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Post by killerwhale65 »

okay thanks!
Matthias Thoen
MicroWings - Aviation Hobby Store

kat
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Post by kat »

Does anyone have any ideas where I could find some text books on redcap duties ?
I'm heading towards that in my career and I'm really curious to study ahead :D

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loadmaster747
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Post by loadmaster747 »

Hi guys,
Matthias, as some friend of us wrote above,

Dispatcher:Is a Flight Dispatcher, a person who's got knowledges of Flight Planning Procedures and his duty is mainly done in office, he's in correlation between AO(aircraft operator) and Air Traffic Authorities(Eurocontrol) concerning the Planning of their own Flights.

Redcap:(also called;Loadmaster,Ramp Supervisor,Operations Sup.) he's working either in office and on ground, he's generally doing Weight & Balance calculations,Loadplanning and then personnaly performing Loading and/or Offloading processof A/C (or supervising)

Pushbacker:gennerally done by a GSE operator or driver(Ground Support Equipment) he's at the disposal of MX(mechanics) or Marshaller who's in contact with Crew via headset in order to do the departure process.

As you can imagine the Terms and Duties used are not allways the same it can be different from one company to another one, but those terms are mostly used in many countries.

Hope I helped you.

Rgds
Dursun

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