Flight Operations Officer Job Description
A flight operations officer helps make flight plans by taking into account things like rough weather, limited airspace, and how things are at the airport. The FOOs give the flight the go-ahead to leave and let the pilots know if things change. Most of the time, they work in the airline's operations centre, where they can talk to pilots and plan flights. Officers are sometimes in charge of cancelling or delaying a flight if they see something that could be dangerous or if the weather is rough. Looking for newly posted flight operations officer jobs? You can easily count on Aviation Job Search for searching the latest jobs for flight operations officers.
Flight Operations Officer Job Responsibilities
The duties of a flight operations officer are very distinctive. They work closely with the flight crew to develop a flight plan. Whenever the weather changes, they redraft the plan and make changes to the flight plan to match. They are in charge of managing flight schedules and letting everyone know if there are any changes to the plan. It is also their job to look at the data sent by the flight crew after the flight. They also know what to do in case of an emergency response plan and how to tell the crew in a timely manner.
Skills Required For Building Flight Operations Officer Career
If you had to pick one thing that makes a good flight operations officer, it would be the ability to handle and manage more than one task at a time. A person who isn't good at doing more than one thing at once can't do everything a flight operations officer does at once. They are very good at talking to people. They have clear communication with the pilots. They keep an eye on the weather, make flight plans, and let the crew know about any delays or cancelled flights. A flight operations officer has to be patient and calm when making decisions every day. Go to the Aviation Job Search and find out more about the promising flight operations officer openings.
Work Environment At Flight Operations Officer Jobs
Flight operations officers usually work about 40 hours per week, which is a pretty standard schedule. This is broken up into five days. Even though schedules and days vary by airline and job, the FAA says that flight dispatchers can't work more than 10 hours a day. This is to keep them from getting tired and making mistakes. Depending on where they work, flight operations officers might work in airports or air traffic control towers, among other places. As was already said, these officers work full-time and may have to work on weekends, holidays, early mornings, or late nights. Officers of flight operations may visit other airports from time to time. Flight operations officers don't have an easy job because accidents can happen and they have to make quick decisions in times of trouble.
The Path to Take for A Flight Operations Officer Career
If you want to become a flight operations officer, you should first think about what you need to learn. A recent survey of flight operations officers showed that about 60% of them had a bachelor's degree and about 3% had a master's degree. Even though most officers have college degrees in their field, you can still become one with a GED or high school diploma. If you want to be a flight operations officer for a living, you need to pick the right major. You might be able to become an officer of flight operations if you have worked in other jobs. For many jobs as a flight operations officer, you need to have worked with customers before. Many flight operations officers have also worked at the airport or in the terminals in roles like operations controller, ramp agent, flight dispatcher, and others.