Aircraft fuelers who operate the fueling equipment drive a fuel truck. First they fill the truck with aviation fuel at the tank farm or fuel storage depot, and then they deliver it to the aircraft where they turn on the pumps, pull out the long heavy hose, and then climb up onto the wings to reach the fuel tank openings. One must be sure-footed in rainy or snowy weather!
Drivers are also employed to operate food trucks, employee buses, conveyors that lift freight up to the plane, mobile stairs (at airports where passengers do not enter or leave aircraft from the terminal building), cleaning equipment, power carts, and aircraft air-conditioning units. Auto mechanics are needed to keep all of this equipment operating at top efficiency as well as to make emergency repairs.
Ramp service people must have a high school diploma, and those who drive should have a driver's license and possibly a chauffeur's license, too. Handlers of cargo and baggage should be in good health and have the physical strength needed for lifting and moving heavy bags and boxes.
A worker may start at the low-paying job of cleaner and move up to better paying positions such as driver, aircraft fuelers, or baggage handler. Once you have experience at a variety of ramp service positions you may be promoted to a desk job in an administrative position. One of these is ramp planner, whose responsibility it is to keep track of arriving and departing aircraft and to dispatch service units to them-cleaners, fuelers, baggage handlers, and food service trucks.
"The ramp planner can have a hectic time," Mr. Ingstrum added. "Especially on a night like this, with extra flights arriving, snow to keep off wings and the automotive equipment."
He glanced at the clock. "You're due over at flight operations at nine. You can just catch the crew car now. It goes every half hour between the terminal here and the hangar. I'll tell the driver it's all right for you to ride."
A few minutes later we were riding in a station wagon over a bumpy road toward the hangar that was a mile and a quarter away. It was evident that the driver had to know the way and be extra alert as we wound over twisting service roads and across strips where airplanes were taxiing to and from the main runways. Visibility was poor with the snow still coming down, and we wondered whether the airport would be closed soon. At the hangar the driver led us to the flight operations room and pointed out Albert Watkins, the flight dispatcher, who was talking with two other workers. "I'll tell him you're here-just to take a seat and he'll be with you soon."
FLIGHT DISPATCHER
From our end of the busy room we watched as Mr. Watkins conferred with several pilots, walking back and forth from his desk to study weather charts on the wall at one end of the room, then talking briefly with other employees who were working at desks scattered about the room. The noise of the teletype machines chattering, telephone-ringing, keyboards clacking, intercom crackling, and conversations sometimes rising above the general hubbub made us wonder how anyone working here could concentrate, but everyone seemed quite used to it.
Mr. Watkins waved to us at last and we went over to his desk and sat down on the side chairs he pulled up for us. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he said, "but I had two flights out at nine to button up. Now I'm off duty and someone else is in charge." He picked up a cup of coffee and took a long drink, leaned back in his chair, and shook his head slowly.
"It's been a hectic day-whenever we have snow it fouls up the schedules, the airports, the loading and unloading. Everything gets behind and then trouble seems to gang up on you. Suddenly you're faced with a series of questions: What's the weather doing to the flights? What's it like out there in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Washington, and a score of other cities? What is it like at the destination city for each flight we dispatch? What alternate airports should we consider if it's impossible to land at the destinations? How much fuel will be left to get the plane to an alternate airport if necessary?"
He works with the captain of each flight, going over the flight plan, which means they must study the winds aloft, the altitudes at which the flight will cruise, the traffic flow of other planes, the weather at the destination, the expected weight of the plane, the amount of fuel that will be needed, and which airports they should plan to send the airplane to if it is not possible to land at the scheduled destination.
"In addition to doing everything I can to ensure a safe flight," he said, "it's my responsibility to see that the plane gets to its destination on time, with the maximum load possible, but at the least operating cost. That's a big order, especially when you think of all the factors we have to take into consideration and the number of flights we clear out of here." He took another sip of coffee and put the cup down. "I don't know how many times I've signed that release form with the pilot. Oh" he noted the quizzical look on our faces, "of course, no flight can take off until the pilot and flight dispatcher sign the release that indicates we've prepared a flight plan and all is in order."
He pointed to a pile of papers at one corner of his desk. "Those are loading reports-some of the documents we have to consult. They tell us how many passengers and how much weight are expected on board, including the weight of the fuel. We need to know this to compute the mileage we can get as well as the cost of the flight." He paused and smiled. "Sounds mighty complicated I guess, but actually we have these handy calculators and there is always the computer, too, to make it easier."
"In fact the computer is taking on more and more of the work of pre-paring flight plans, so much so that the way we operate here is now old-fashioned in many ways because in some companies the computer has almost taken over the flight dispatcher's job! I know of one airline where they have stored computerized routes that are all preplanned so that if a pilot is going to fly from Nashville to Chicago, the dispatcher prints out the flight plan on the computer. All this makes the job of the flight dispatcher easier and really less demanding, although he still has certain duties." He leaned back and smiled slightly. "Probably none of this is too important to your readers because by the time they apply for the job, everything will have changed again-this is an industry of change."
"It certainly seems so," we agreed. "But tell us how one become a flight dispatcher."
"It takes time," he replied. "Most dispatchers move up from jobs as station managers, meteorologists, radio operators, junior flight dispatchers, or dispatch clerks. Actually you must know the Civil Air Regulations and the airline's operations rules and have a Federal Aviation Administration dispatcher's license. I'd say that a college education with a major in meteorology or air transportation would be adequate preparation. In a small airline, the flight dispatcher also has to be a meteorologist and a schedule coordinator, too. No one is going to walk in here from school and sit at this desk. I guess that's quite obvious-you have to have a lot of experience but it's not a bad job. In fact, just think, there are eight or ten flights out there right now that I cleared-makes you feel important in one way, and humble in another." He rose and stretched. "Guess you might say that if you sit at this desk you earn your money!"
Mr. Watkins pointed out Elaine Philips, the schedule coordinator at the other end of the huge operations room, "Elaine's on the phone but she won't mind if we just go on over and wait for her in front of her desk."
