James Brian Hart

I have worked as a licensed dispatcher for part 121 carriers for over twenty-five years. I am also a DADE for more then fifteen years. The inspector that qualified me to be a DADE saw a need to have DADEs from the industry because of the volume of students that three schools under his jurisdiction were producing. He also recognized that the technology and advancements of modern commercial aviation were rapidly changing and he needed personnel that reflected this ever-changing environment. There was ample recourses to get highly experienced dispatchers. There are airlines all over the US doing the actual work. A DADE not affiliated with any particular school is an honest judge that has no skin in the game. A DADE gives a school protection from any conflict of interest for obvious reasons. I saw first hand at a school where the DADE was also the owner of the school and it wasn’t pretty. This individual tested multiple applicants at the same time in the same room! There is no dispatching by committee in the real world and no school should be testing in this fashion. This person also was influenced by his students travel constraints, i.e. If a student had a ticket to return home at a said date, no matter how week the student was, they were tested and passed. I have had applicants that I have failed peg for a second chance because of their travel constraints. I have told them that are their problem not mine. DADE should be a separate agent from any school. If a dispatcher is the future makes an error and the question is asked who signed this guy off, it’s on the FAA not the school. The school does its job and prepares the applicant to test. The FAAs role is to test that applicant and also test that school. Every time I test an applicant I am also evaluating the school and critiquing their instructors and making suggestions how they can improve. I don’t know how you can have that when the person that is teaching the class is going to ask only information that they c