AirAsia Crash Investigation 'Will Zero In on Dispatch,' Safety Expert Says

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A top U.S. safety expert said the investigation of the AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed Sunday, "will zero in on dispatch." Flight dispatchers work with pilots to plan flight paths, taking into account weather, aircraft capabilities, aircraft weights and other issues. The discussions typically include fuel allocations based on those factors. Must Read: Delta Boosts Fourth Quarter Margin Estimate as Fuel Prices Fall Generally, "a pilot goes in an hour and a half before a flight to talk to dispatch," said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board and a CNN aviation analyst. "The flight must be approved by dispatch, using weather information -- there should be a meteorologist who looks at the route. "I'm not sure the Asian carriers or civil aviation have kept up with that," Goelz said. "How sophisticated was the Air Asia internal dispatch process in keeping up with the airline's massive expansion?" The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Indonesian officials have cracked down, ordering aviation officials suspended and saying airlines "will be forced to comply with more stringent pre-departure regulations that require pilots to undergo direct weather briefings with dispatchers." In the U.S., airlines typically employ meteorologists. Their input is considered in the pilot/dispatcher discussion. Often, in that discussion, "there is a certain amount of tension around the fuel allocation," Goelz said. "The pilots want more fuel, the airlines want less fuel." Both parties begin with an acceptance that safety is the highest priority and that they have accurate weather information. Goelz noted that five other flights, including one by AirAsia, flew routes similar to Flight 8501 at around the same time. "There were no reports from them on how difficult the flight was," he said. The AirAsia Airbus A320 vanished from radar early Sunday en route to Singapore to Surabaya, Indonesia. When last heard from, the pilot was trying to avoid a major storm system. Must Read: United Leaves Dog Out in the Rain? We Talk to the Witness as Twitter Debate Rages -- Written by Ted Reed in Charlotte, N.C. To contact this writer, click here. Follow @tedreednc

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