Dispatch Dispatcher
Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Human Factors; Weather
Early morning; approximately one hour before departure; I was told by the Shift Manager that Maintenance had reached out to him asking if we had heard anything about a potential severe turbulence that had happened on Aircraft X the night before on the flight from ZZZ to ZZZ1. When advised that we hadn't heard anything about it; I was asked by the Shift Manager to reach out to the Captain and inquire about what had happened the night before. The crew that brought the aircraft in the night before was the same crew taking it out the next morning; so after being asked; I reached out and did not reach the CA (Captain) the first time. I left a message; stating (paraphrased) that we had heard about a potential severe turbulence encounter from Flight Ops and since the mandatory reporting process regarding such an encounter were not filed; we were reaching out due to the unknown nature of the status of the aircraft; as well as to ask why it didn't happen. CA called back just a couple minutes later stating that he had received my message and to walk through the process with him. When describing the turbulence; CA stated that the turbulence at one point 'kicked off the autopilot;' but nothing further was said; and that the crew did a thorough walkaround when they got on the ground in ZZZ1 and stated that there was no apparent damage. I told him that his Ops Report and using the word 'severe' in a turbulence report per company policy requires notification to Dispatch and Maintenance as there are things that have to be done to make sure the aircraft is airworthy and not damaged. He was apologetic it seemed like on the phone and it appeared like he understood what I was saying and apologized for not notifying us the night before. At that point; I told him to reach out to Maintenance to go over the process and walk through the definition of severe turbulence to check on the threshold and to see whether they thought that it met the threshold. Soon after; an ACARS (Aircraft Communications And Reporting System) was sent from the aircraft stating that he and Maintenance had determined that it did not meet the definition provided in the FOM. After that; Flight Ops Management reached out directly to Operations Management and advised the aircraft was grounded and was not going anywhere. A rescue aircraft from ZZZ2 was put together; departed without much delay and picked up the flying in ZZZ1. An FDR (Flight Data Recorder) download was done later that night and by the FDR; it was determined that the turbulence was in fact severe; and the aircraft required inspection. The root cause of the confusion was from the lack of mandatory reporting from the flight crew to Maintenance and Dispatch the night before on the possible severe turbulence. Most of the problems could have been avoided; maintenance potentially would have been able to send a road trip overnight for an FDR download on the aircraft and the aircraft could have potentially been signed off in the morning before the first flight of the day with no rescue flight and no delay to the revenue flying.
Dispatcher reported a severe turbulence encounter that resulted in an aircraft removed from service.