B767 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 164; Flight Crew Total 7077; Flight Crew Type 4293
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy
The so-called flight planning area in ZZZZ is unsuitable. This is my 4th report on this station in the last year. The room is 9x9 room on the ramp level that is used by the ramp personnel to load the baggage scanner info; etc. There is a desk with a company computer; a printer and a phone. The phone to call dispatch does not go to dispatch. You have to call the number for maintenance control and get transferred over. There is one chair and not enough room for laying out a plotting chart; marking up flight plans; etc. The very nice (did I mention very nice?!?) Foreign Airline agents print off the paperwork for us and hand it to us as we walk down the jetway. If we were to go to the planning room we would need a ramp agent to come to the airplane and escort us down to the room and unlock the door. Most of the crews don't do this so most of the crews wind up taking what the dispatcher plans and probably never calling for a dispatcher briefing. Flight planning in the cockpit is not the best; safest practice - way too many distractions and not enough room.
B767 Captain described the conditions under which flight planning is completed at a foreign airport with no Company Operations in a small room with inadequate communications.