THE DISPATCHER FOR A REGIONAL CARRIER RPTS A LACK OF TRAINING ON A JET ACFT SERIES THAT WAS RECENTLY ADDED TO THE FLEET. THE RPTR DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO AN ACFT FLT MANUAL AND HAS BEEN UNABLE TO ACCURATELY DETERMINE THE ACFT'S PERFORMANCE CAPABILITY WITH THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO HIM.

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I AM WRITING THIS RPT BECAUSE I DO NOT FEEL THAT I (OR OTHER DISPATCHERS AT MY AIRLINE) HAVE BEEN ADEQUATELY TRAINED TO DISPATCH THE F28-4000. I HAVE BEEN DISPATCHING THE F28-1000 SERIES FOR SEVERAL YRS WITHOUT ANY PROBS OR CONCERNS OVER ANY SAFETY ISSUES. HOWEVER; THE AIRLINE RECENTLY ACQUIRED SOME F28-4000 SERIES TO REPLACE THE 1000 SERIES. THE ACFT ARE QUITE SIMILAR; HOWEVER; WHERE THEY DIFFER IS SIGNIFICANT. THE ENGS ON THE 4000 ARE ALMOST THE SAME AS THOSE ON THE 1000; WITH A VERY SLIGHT INCREASE IN PWR BEING THE DIFFERENCE. THE MAX TKOF WT IS 8000 LBS HIGHER. WITH THESE DIFFERENCES COMES PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE. WE HAVE ACFT TKOF GROSS WT AND LNDG PERFORMANCE FOR THE 4000; BUT WE HAVE NOT BEEN TRAINED ON THE ENRTE PORTION. MY DIFFERENCES TRAINING FOR THE 4000 SERIES CONSISTED OF A 15 PAGE PACKAGE WHICH SUPPOSEDLY WAS APPROVED BY THE FAA. I SIMPLY WAS GIVEN THE PACKAGE AND TOLD TO SIGN A STATEMENT SAYING I UNDERSTOOD EVERYTHING IN IT. THIS PACKAGE CONSISTED OF 1 PAGE WHICH GAVE A HISTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF THE F28; 4 PAGES CONSISTING OF WT LIMITATIONS AND EXAMPLES OF GENERAL FLT PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS; AND 10 PAGES WITH DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE ACFT; SUCH AS EMER DOOR EXITS; LENGTH AND WIDTH; AND COCKPIT SYS INDICATIONS. ON THE TOP OF ALL 15 PAGES THE DISCLAIMER 'FOR INFO ONLY -- NOT FOR USE IN FLT PLANNING/RELEASE' IS TYPED. THIS IS THE ONLY TRAINING I HAVE RECEIVED. WE DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO AN ACFT PERFORMANCE MANUAL (AFM) IN OUR OFFICE. WE HAVE PHOTOCOPIES OF THE 'QUICK REF FLT PLANNING INFO' SECTION FROM THE AFM. THERE ARE ALSO A FEW PHOTO-COPIES WHICH REFER TO 'SINGLE ENG CEILING.' FROM THESE CHARTS WE WERE TOLD VIA E-MAIL BY OUR CHIEF DISPATCHER HOW TO USE THE CHARTS TO ARRIVE WITH A ZERO NET TKOF LIMIT (ZNTOL) FIGURE. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT SINGLE ENG CEILING IS NOT THE SAME AS ZNTOL; AND THAT THESE SINGLE ENG CEILING CHARTS ARE LESS RESTRICTIVE THAN THAT OF TRUE ZNTOL. WE WERE ALSO INSTRUCTED BY OUR CHIEF DISPATCHER AND MGR OF FLT STANDARDS FOR THE FA28 TO EXTRAPOLATE FOR TEMPS OUTSIDE OF THE CHART. I ADDRESSED MY CONCERNS WITH MY CHIEF DISPATCHER. I TOLD HIM THAT WE DID NOT HAVE ADEQUATE REF MATERIAL OR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT WE DID HAVE. HIS RESPONSE TO ME WAS THAT THE ACFT PERFORMANCE MANUALS WERE TOO EXPENSIVE FOR US TO GET A SET FOR THE OFFICE AND THAT WE AS DISPATCHERS CAN ONLY WORK WITH WHAT THE COMPANY GIVES US. I TOLD HIM I FELT I COULD NOT PROPERLY DO MY JOB AND THAT I WAS CONCERNED FOR MY LICENSE; WHETHER IT WAS ALL THE COMPANY PROVIDED OR NOT. I DID NOT FEEL THAT HIS ANSWER JUSTIFIED MY CONCERNS. HE CAME BACK BY SAYING HE HAD THE SAME CONCERNS HIMSELF AND THAT HE CHKED INTO THIS WITH OUR LCL FSDO AND THAT IN FACT WE AS DISPATCHERS COULD NOT BE HELD LIABLE BECAUSE THE COMPANY DID NOT PROVIDE US WITH ADEQUATE MATERIALS OR TRAINING. IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT ONE OF OUR DISPATCHERS AND ONE OF OUR MORE SENIOR CAPTS WORKED TOGETHER USING CHARTS FROM THE AFM TO MAKE A DATABASE WHICH WILL MAKE ACTUAL ZNTOL CALCULATIONS AUTOMATED FOR US IN THE NEAR FUTURE. WE AS DISPATCHERS WILL BE USING THESE FOR OUR RELEASES; ASSUMING THEY ARE ACCURATE; BUT WE ARE UNABLE TO VERIFY THE DATA. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE WINTER OPERATING CONDITIONS (TEMPS) ARE NOT AS YET IN THE DATABASE; SO THIS RPTR STILL FEELS THAT HE IS NOT ABLE TO PERFORM HIS JOB TO THE STANDARDS OF HIS CERTIFICATION. THE ANTI-ICE AND AIRFOIL CONSIDERATIONS ADD TO THE CONFUSION AND CREATE A GREATER WORKLOAD. RPTR STATES THAT THE MOST FRUSTRATING SIT IS A QUICK ACFT CHANGE BTWN A 1000 AND A 4000 SERIES FA28. HE CANNOT SIMPLY SWAP THE ACFT NUMBERS -- HE HAS TO WORK THROUGH A NEW RELEASE USING INFO THAT HE FEELS IS NOT EVEN LEGALLY RELIABLE. THIS RPTR'S SOLUTION IS TO USE CONSERVATIVE FIGURES; BUT THIS STILL CONCERNS HIM SINCE OTHER DISPATCHERS MAY NOT BE AS CONSERVATIVE IN THEIR PROCS.