Managing variability: a cognitive ethnography of the work of airline dispatchers

Abstract

Airline dispatchers’ workflow is often described in broad terms like ‘flight planning’ and ‘flight following.’ Such high-level descriptions fail to recognize the number and complexity of tasks involved in these activities. An ethnographic study was conducted at three US airlines to understand the cognitive workload involved in flight planning. Fuel planning was identified as one of five key flight planning tasks. Fuel planning was conducted concurrently with other planning and monitoring tasks which often led to interruptions. Planning fuel was dynamic, with re-calculations required whenever other factors varied. This rework increased workload and opportunities for error while reducing efficiency. Beyond route changes, four main factors contributed variability to fuel planning: contingency planning, load planning, pilots, and station operations. Strategies for managing variability included pattern identification, use of buffers, rounding up, and leveraging software tools. Software design often added workload by forcing dispatchers to attend to low level tasks.

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