Flight Diversions

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AirNavStudent24
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Joined: 02 Aug 2018, 11:13

Flight Diversions

Post by AirNavStudent24 »

Hello, I'm doing an University Project about how flight dispatchers make the decission of where to land if a diversion is needed if there are more than one possible alternate airports. The project is focused in which factors are important in the decission, and a priority ranking of this factors.
Thank you all in advance for helping!!

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sn26567
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Re: Flight Diversions

Post by sn26567 »

Welcome to Aviation24.be, AirNavStudent24. Hopefully you will soon receive an answer on this forum, despite the holiday season.
André
ex Sabena #26567

Poiu
Posts: 897
Joined: 14 Nov 2015, 09:38

Re: Flight Diversions

Post by Poiu »

AirNavStudent24 wrote: 02 Aug 2018, 11:22 Hello, I'm doing an University Project about how flight dispatchers make the decission of where to land if a diversion is needed if there are more than one possible alternate airports. The project is focused in which factors are important in the decission, and a priority ranking of this factors.
Thank you all in advance for helping!!
Strange ”project”, dispatchers are not the ones who decide whether, where or when to divert.
If you tell us what you really want to know, you may get an answer...

sean1982
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Joined: 18 Mar 2003, 00:00
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Re: Flight Diversions

Post by sean1982 »

Poiu wrote: 07 Aug 2018, 09:54
AirNavStudent24 wrote: 02 Aug 2018, 11:22 Hello, I'm doing an University Project about how flight dispatchers make the decission of where to land if a diversion is needed if there are more than one possible alternate airports. The project is focused in which factors are important in the decission, and a priority ranking of this factors.
Thank you all in advance for helping!!
Strange ”project”, dispatchers are not the ones who decide whether, where or when to divert.
If you tell us what you really want to know, you may get an answer...
I think he means when constructing flightplans, how does one decide on primary diversion airport and secondary and so on :)

pilot_gent
Posts: 36
Joined: 21 Jul 2015, 22:38

Re: Flight Diversions

Post by pilot_gent »

That would depend on the company they work for, I can give you 1 vision.

All alternates are checked for the following:
- weather above legal minima;
- NOTAMS affecting the airport;
- opening hours OK for the time frame;
- OK performance wise.
- Fire fighting and rescue service category OK.

The airlines usually have a list of airports where they prefer the diversions to be to. This has mostly to do with the following:
- handling agreements;
- availability of maintenance;
- availability of spare aircraft.

For the creation of flight plans our alternates are based on the list by the company and minimum fuel policy. This means the alternate that is on the list of the airline and requires the least fuel will be planned. Exceptions are if there are special considerations, e.g. political situations (Cyprus-Turkey, Israel,...). This would be the situation in 99% of the flights.

If a diversion is likely and known before the flight (fog, wind,...) a more commercial alternate would be planned. Our dispatching service negotiates with the commercial department and chooses a better alternate. This could be influenced by:
- handling contracts
- ground support availability
- hotel availability
- etc.

If a diversion is to be made in flight it depends on the situation, but again it would be influenced by:
- maintenance availibility
- spare aircraft / ground support
- handling contracts
- hotel availibility
- etc

I'm talking here about commercial decisions. If a diversion is made the pilot in command would of course have the final saying and put the safety requirements (runway length, weather, fire fighting category etc.) well above the commercial requirements.

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