Career guide
How to become an aircraft dispatcher
A ground-based aviation career with shared authority over the flights you release. Here is what the job is, what the FAA requires, how long training takes, and how to start.
What the job is
An aircraft dispatcher shares operational control of each airline flight with the pilot in command. Before departure the dispatcher plans the flight: weather, route, altitude, fuel, weight and balance, airport notices and equipment limits. The dispatcher and the captain both sign the dispatch release; neither can send the flight alone. While the flight is in the air the dispatcher follows it, passes the crew anything that affects safety, and amends the plan when conditions change. The work is done from an operations center on the ground, in shifts, often with several flights at once.
Who employs dispatchers
U.S. airlines operating under Part 121 domestic and flag rules are required by regulation to dispatch every flight through a certificated aircraft dispatcher. Charter and corporate flight departments hire certificated dispatchers too, as do airlines outside the United States that recognize the FAA certificate.
What the FAA requires
To hold the FAA Aircraft Dispatcher Certificate you must be at least 23 years old, be able to read, speak, write and understand English, pass the FAA knowledge test (called the ADX, which you may take at 21) and pass the practical test with an FAA inspector or a Designated Aircraft Dispatcher Examiner. You qualify for the tests by completing an FAA-approved course of at least 200 hours, such as ours, or by documented experience set out in 14 CFR 65.57. Neither a pilot certificate nor a college degree is required.
How hard it is
The course is demanding because the job is. Meteorology alone is 62 of the 200 hours, and the last two weeks are spent dispatching: flight plans worked by hand on a Boeing 737 with equipment limits, reroutes and holds, ending in a timed final. You need to be comfortable reading charts, doing arithmetic under time pressure and making decisions you can explain. No aviation background is required to start.
How long it takes
Our course is 200 hours over about five weeks, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in person at our Miami facility. After graduation you take the FAA knowledge test, then the practical test while your graduation certificate is valid (90 days, revalidated once for 90 more after an oral proficiency exam). Most of the timeline after graduation depends on test scheduling, which you control.
What it pays
Each employer sets its own pay and publishes it in its job postings, so we do not quote figures. For an independent picture, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data for airfield operations specialists, the occupational group that includes aircraft dispatchers, by state and metro area. The link is below. Pay generally rises with seniority and with the size of the operation, and dispatchers at many airlines are covered by a union contract that sets the scale.
Bureau of Labor Statistics: airfield operations specialistsA typical shift
Dispatch runs around the clock, so dispatchers work shifts, including nights, weekends and holidays, with days off in blocks. A shift starts with a briefing and a handover of the flights in progress, then a set of departures to plan and release, then flight following: watching weather, airspace and aircraft status and amending releases as the day changes. Dispatchers talk to captains, maintenance, crew scheduling and air traffic control, and they can delay or cancel a flight when safety requires it.
What it costs
Tuition and what it includes are listed on our Tuition page, with the deposit, payment schedule and refund policy. Ask us for the current figures and we will send them in writing.
The steps, in order
- Step 1
Complete the 200-hour course
Attend every segment and score 80% or better on each school knowledge test. You receive a graduation certificate, valid for 90 days.
- Step 2
Pass the FAA knowledge test
Take the FAA knowledge test, called the ADX, at an FAA-approved testing center. You must be 21 or older; 70% passes, and the result is valid for 24 calendar months.
- Step 3
Pass the FAA practical test
Taken with an FAA inspector or a Designated Aircraft Dispatcher Examiner while your graduation certificate is valid.
- Step 4
The FAA issues your certificate
You must be 23 or older. If you pass the practical test before 23, the FAA issues a Letter of Aeronautical Competency, which you exchange for the certificate when you turn 23.
To hold the certificate you must be 23 or older and able to read, speak, write and understand English. You can take the knowledge test at 21.
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