Dispatcher reports on her everyday life

I have had experience of helicopters and flying from a very early age as a result of helping to deliver supplies to “our” SAC hut in Graubünden each year. What used to impress me was the precision of the pilots in the helicopter and the task specialists outside the hut, how they all worked together, and especially the flexible organization behind the operation. Whenever erratic weather conditions confounded all plans once again, the dispatcher somehow always managed to find a brief break in the bad weather, so we could sit in the hut in the evening with all the supplies and enjoy a well-earned supper. This aroused in me the desire to work in dispatching myself sometime in the future.

Withhin reach 

Let’s now fast forward from my childhood memories to the year 2022. I had taken the plunge and quit my permanent job, with a view to “just doing what I had always wanted to do”. So I guess it was no coincidence that I stumbled across the job vacancy in dispatching at Air Zermatt at precisely this time. Okay, so the job was in Valais rather than the canton of Uri. And it was at Air Zermatt rather than Heli Gotthard. However, it seemed that my long-harbored dream of working in the midst of transportation, sightseeing, and rescue flights could actually become reality, so I applied for the position.

I pictured working in dispatching for such a large company as being highly varied, vibrant, challenging, dynamic, and intensive. I imagined it would involve coordinating assignments, briefing crews, and suitably planning the time available.

However, I had absolutely no idea of all the aspects that need to work together in order to successfully follow a daily schedule, adhere to all applicable guidelines, and coordinate several rescue missions at the same time. There is hardly a day that turns out as it was originally planned. In fact, it often already becomes apparent early in the morning, after a few jobs, that the daily schedules no longer match the original, carefully designed plan.

Flexibility is the key

Responsible for coordinating everything between transport customers, flight passengers, patients, pilots, task specialists, technicians, and emergency services, we dispatchers need to be on our toes at all times. We need to find the right balance between different demands and the ideal solutions for everyone involved, including ourselves. Be it to plan transportation requests in an order that makes sense for the task specialists and pilots, meet customer needs, or suddenly reschedule everything in order to help an injured person as quickly as possible – or to supply a hut with food after all when the weather clears up. This also involves requesting weather checks from pilots for taxi flights and taking appropriate action or arranging an alternative to a flight if the weather turns out to be unsuitable for flying. Another task is helping to optimize helicopter deployment planning to ensure that each helicopter arrives at the Technical Service on time for its regular inspections – while at the same time ensuring there are still enough aircraft available at all the different sites.

It is up to us dispatchers to reschedule the crews in the field, offer the best solution to customers with urgent jobs even at short notice, or patiently answer all sorts of questions from the passengers of sightseeing flights. There is nothing that we do that doesn’t also affect some other area or the demands of another group of people. It is only possible to achieve all this with good communication, a functioning team, and flexibility on all sides.

And that is precisely what is so fascinating about this work. In the evening, when we have provided all planned sightseeing and taxi flights, have handled all transport requests, have managed to save people’s lives, and after all that the team is in high spirits, I know why I “always wanted to do this”. What’s more, the reality is sometimes even better than I had imagined!