Peter J. Rojas

I earned my Aircraft Dispatcher Certificate at Sheffield School of Aeronautics in Oct 2009. The course was one of the most demanding that I have ever experienced in my life, having an engineering degree from Virginia Tech, an MBA Finance from Drexel University, as well as a Commercial and Instrument Pilot Certificate (not currently active). The modules in the course were very intense and detailed, and if the student does not keep up with the homework, study, and tests, the student simply will not graduate. I do not know the exact pass/fail rates, but I witnessed about 1/2 of the class not passing this demanding course. The ADX exam required by the FAA is simply a filter, but does not prepare the applicant to be an Aircraft Dispatcher. Many applicants are just content to "wing it" and get by with a score in the low 70's. Sheffield takes its responsibilities as a school extremely serious and does not tolerate mediocre performance. The quality of material, instruction, methods, their instructors, and DADE examiners are superb. There is no guaranteed success. This proposed rule-making is making assumptions that simply do not apply at Sheffield. It seems to me that the emphasis should be to elevate the quality of the other schools, and not penalize a high-quality schools because the others are not up to par. The testing that I experienced at Sheffield was closely supervised and did not open itself to any kind of floundering or cheating. After receiving my certificate, I joined a class of 4 experienced dispatchers for Part 121 initial training. Without experience, my preparation at Sheffield enabled me to become active at the same time after the initial training. I have seen another candidate coming from DADE County Community College with a very poor preparation, but receiving a Certificate. I strongly oppose the proposed rule-making by the FAA to force a change. FAA should increase the quality of other schools.