DVA4404
Captain, B737-800
Joined on May 01 2007
Eastern Canada
36 legs, 70.5 hours
17 legs,
31.5 hours online
8 legs,
17.3 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2007 12:42 ET by Justin Mailman
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I got thinking (scary) and sometimes I just don't want to fly (duh-duh-duh) or don't have the time to make a flight. Yet I still want to be involved. I love planning routes, checking weather and making flights as realistic as possible (Giving passenger amounts, broken equipment reports, working with delays, etc.) Would anybody be interested in making a live dispatch service via ACARS or something similar, where certain qualified people (This would be extremely easy to get into) could log on and work as a dispatcher for other people flying. Use of this for pilots would be strictly at their own freewill, and it would never be a requirement. I would love to help set something like this up if there is intrest.
Think about it,
Justin
Edit: The dispatcher would help plan routes, give detailed weather to pilots at their request and give breifings also at pilots request. Dispatchers could for example, if the pilot requests a briefing give the pilot something such as, give the pilot something on the aircraft that isn't working, therefore the pilot should at their discretion plan accorldingly
Justin MailmanCaptain, B737-800
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DVA4133
Captain, B767-300
Joined on March 02 2007
Century Club
"1957 Apache. No parking brake!"
Southeastern United States
143 legs, 448.0 hours
5 legs,
6.7 hours online
138 legs,
434.1 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2007 12:53 ET by Brian Beard
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DVA4052
Captain, B737-800
Joined on February 11 2007
Century Club
B737 50 Club
Ogden, UT
172 legs, 598.9 hours
140 legs,
508.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2007 13:04 ET by William Pope
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DVA4604
Captain, B757-200
Joined on June 20 2007
Century Club
Online Century Club
"Reach for the skies"
Norwalk, CT
138 legs, 210.3 hours
122 legs,
187.8 hours online
96 legs,
130.5 hours ACARS
5 legs,
12.0 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2007 13:16 ET by Scott Bonito
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DVA4404
Captain, B737-800
Joined on May 01 2007
Eastern Canada
36 legs, 70.5 hours
17 legs,
31.5 hours online
8 legs,
17.3 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2007 13:48 ET by Justin Mailman
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DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP
Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club
"Col. Panic"
Marietta, GA
2,347 legs, 9,466.0 hours
240 legs,
553.9 hours online
2,005 legs,
8,259.1 hours ACARS
75 legs,
196.3 hours event
2,383 legs, 9,600.9 hours total
91 legs dispatched, 66.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2007 14:09 ET by Luke Kolin
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The question of dispatch comes up regularly. There are a number of issues that have yet to be overcome.
First, there's the notion of weather. As far as I am aware, there are numerous data sources for weather. We have ActiveSky, VATSIM, FSMeteo, MSFS Real World Weather and IVAO. They're in agreement as often as planetary convergence. We also don't necessarily need to fly at the same time in real life, so there's another possible divergence. I am very reluctant to incorporate weather into anything we do, simply because there are so many sources for it and it almost never matches what you display in FS. How does a dispatcher give you data that AS6 or ACARS could not already give you?
Second, I'm never going to make up any data for use. Passenger loads are not set via dispatch, but through MSFS via the payload and fuel loader on the aircraft. It's up to each pilot to load their aircraft accordingly and that way the numbers get set. I'd imagine that most folks fly with a full load of passengers anyways; that's the default. Malfunctioning equipment isn't going to be sent unless it can be non-functional in the sim as well, and meaningful for the aircraft used. A non-operational autothrottle on an ERJ or wonky EICAS in a Boeing doesn't make sense.
Route planning does seem like an interesting idea. I'd love to get my hands on the SimRoutes data or other source, but I haven't had much luck. We could certainly plot the route graphically and then send it to the ACARS client - loading it into the GPS or other route would be a more complicated matter, however.
There has been a little bit of work on getting dispatch working, but the two major problems are data sources and actually getting a good C# developer to take the mantle and move forward with it. It's certainly been on my to-do list for a while, but it's pretty low priority compared to other, more pressing needs.
Cheers!
Luke KolinSenior Captain, MD-11
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DVA4404
Captain, B737-800
Joined on May 01 2007
Eastern Canada
36 legs, 70.5 hours
17 legs,
31.5 hours online
8 legs,
17.3 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
August 13 2007 14:47 ET by Justin Mailman
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