Dispatch Operation Safety Audit DOSA: A Pilot Study

1

• Dispatch Operation Safety Audit (DOSA) A Pilot
  Study
• Chris Henry
• The University of Texas Human Factors Research
  Project
• The University of Texas at Austin

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology
April 16th, 2003 Dayton, OH
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• Dispatch Background
• Current Project
• Lessons Learned
• Future Directions

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Dispatchers Two primary responsibilities

• Planning
• Route selections
• Fuel
• Performance data
• Following
• Monitor flight progress
• Alert crews of changing conditions
• Serve as a resource for crew

4
Dispatch Safety Contributions

• Dispatchers have access to large amounts of
  information
• Failure to disseminate info places burden
  elsewhere
• Dispatch role in the Little Rock Accident
• Aircraft performance data is critical

5
Current Project

• Continental Airlines approached UT about using a
  LOSA-like approach to gathering safety data in
  dispatch operations.
• Is there anything going on that we should be
  concerned about?

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Methodology

• Observations
• Conducted primarily by company dispatchers
• Half a day of observer training
• 23 observations conducted in January
• Observers recorded threats and errors and how
  they were managed
• Interviews
• Survey

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Typical Day in Dispatch

• 30-50 flights handled per shift.
• Multi-tasking with constant interruptions
• Building flight plans and flight following
  simultaneously.
• Dispatchers work in a threat rich environment and
  can be thought of as threat managers.

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Dispatch Threat Profile

• Aircraft Event MELs, aircraft malfunction,
  communication event
• Departure/Arrival WX, terrain, congestion,
  airport conditions
• Operational time pressures, diversion,
  unfamiliar airports (e.g. charter flights)
• ATC Routing restrictions and changes
• Cabin Event
• Support MX, ground, scheduling, load planning,
  other dispatchers

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Two Levels of Threat

• The flight Threats that are specific to one
  flight
• The desk Threats are not tied to one specific
  flight but that could potentially affect all of
  the flights on the dispatchers desk.

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Errors A Few Issues

• Proceduralization Dispatch is, by design, not
  very proceduralized.
• Observer Limitations Events that are clearly
  errors, would be difficult for an observer to
  catch.

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Methodological Adjustments

• Dual Observers
• One at desk to record local factors processes.
• One behind the scenes checking to ensure, that
  all NOTAMs, MELs, ATC directives, etc were
  applied.
• Process variance

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Future Lines of Research

• Dispatchers exchange information with many other
  groups.
• Initial work indicates intra-group information
  exchange may be an issue of interest.
• Implications for safety and efficiency.
• Future work Investigate information exchange and
  communication within the System Operation Command
  Center.

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Conclusions

• Methodologies must be adapted to new environments
  with care.
• Due to a lack of proceduralization, research in
  dispatch should focus on process.
• Investigation of intra-group coordination and
  communication within an airline may have
  significant safety and economical implications.