Airline Dispatchers Federation.
Representing the professional interests of the Aircraft Dispatcher.

Dale Gentry - Southwest Airlines - Flight Dispatcher
Dale at Greenwich England
.
I’m Dale Gentry. After high school, I joined the Marine Corps where I was Military Police and deployed to Iraq twice. While going to college on the GI Bill, I discovered dispatch. I switched majors from Professional Pilot to Aviation Management. By chance, I stumbled on to the dispatch profession after browsing airline jobs. When I saw what a Dispatcher does and what all they did, I knew what I wanted my career path to be!
I started in dispatch in 2012 at Compass Airlines. After a short stint there I moved to ExpressJet, and I got hired on at Southwest in 2015 where I’ve been ever since. I’m currently an OJT Instructor, serve on the midnight workload committee and SWA Culture Committee,; and also serve as a Shop Steward for TWU 550. I prefer working midnights since I’m a night owl by nature. I make it a point to make sure everyone feels welcome at SWA on the midnight shift, especially since it’s our most junior shift. I host monthly parties “Mid-Brations” (Midnight Celebrations) for our dispatch group recognizing birthdays, marriages, and new babies! For the care and effort I show my co-hearts, they have started calling me “Mayor of Midnights”!
I enjoy traveling, especially exploring the Western US, where I go hiking and camping a few times a year. When I retire my goal is to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, almost 2,200 miles! It will be a several month long journey.
A big priority right now is taking care of my recently adopted a 10-week old stray kitten that I named Axel.
I also spend a lot of time reading and so far I’ve read over 90 books this year.

ADF's first 15 years, volunteers and members came together at our summit in Las Vegas on Oct 10, 2022


Left to right:
Pres. Bill Leber (NW), Rick Ketchersid (WN), Brad Rasmussen (WO), Pres. Bill Cranor (Kiwi), Tracie Benson (AA), Pres. Steve Caisse (DL), Carla Caisse (WN), Mike Timpe, (Horizon) Andy Konstas (UA), George Webster (HP), Joe Cook (DL)



ADF Group Photos
Page 1 of 5