Airplane Dispatchers

Certification or Licensing

The FAA must license airplane dispatchers. You may prepare for the FAA licensing examination in several different ways. You may work at least one year in a dispatching office under a licensed dispatcher, complete an FAA-approved airline dispatcher's program at a specialized school or training center, or show that you have spent two of the previous three years in air traffic control work or a related job. Candidates who meet the preliminary requirements must also pass an examination covering civil air regulations, radio procedures, airport and airway traffic procedures, weather analysis, and air navigation facilities. In addition to a written test, you must also pass an oral examination covering the interpretation of weather information, landing and cruising speeds of various aircraft, airline routes, navigation facilities, and operational characteristics of different aircraft types. You must demonstrate your knowledge of these areas to become a licensed dispatcher and be expected to maintain these skills once licensed. Various training programs, some of which may be conducted by their employers, will assist you in staying current with new developments, which are frequent in this job. Assistant dispatchers are only sometimes required to be licensed. Thus, it may be possible to begin work in a dispatcher's office before earning the dispatcher's license.

The Sheffield School of Aeronautics provides the FAA Dispatcher Certificate course in the United States and does not require any prior experience. However, if an individual desires to pursue other dispatcher certifications outside of the United States, they must complete the Flight Operations Management level one course or take a bypass exam before they are eligible to enroll in an FAA Dispatcher Certification course at Sheffield School of Aeronautics.

It is important to note that proficiency in the English language is mandatory for all FAA Flight Dispatcher courses. Students who are not fluent in English may need to register for the ICAO English Testing and Training before enrolling in the second level of the flight dispatcher course at Sheffield. This ensures students have the necessary language skills to communicate effectively and efficiently while working as flight dispatchers.

Other Requirements

Airline dispatchers must be at least 23 years old in order to be able to work for major airlines. Your vision must be correctable to 20/20.

Experience monitoring, analyzing, and calculating various flight factors, such as weather reports and NOTAMs, runway performance, weight and balance issues, ATC preferred routes distance, and fuel needs, to create and update flight plans.