Pilot for a Day - Professional Loadmaster Association

THE LOADER
Page 4 Volume 4 Issue 2
Handling a Civilian 747 Freighter
By Herman Reede
After working as an operations officer
for nine years with KLM (a Dutch airline
) I’ve had the opportunity to create a
loadmaster unit for our brand-new freighter
operation. Two years ago KLM converted two
25 year old Boeing 747-400 Combination
Passenger and Freighter (‘combi’) aircraft
into so-called Special Freighters. While purpose
built 747F freighters are nose/side
loaders, Special Freighters are converted
passenger aircraft and the maindeck can
only be loaded through a side door. (But it
measures 134” X 120” -- roughly the size of
the aft cargo door on a C-130 or C-141,
ed.) The conversion has been done by
Boeing in Wichita , Kansas.
Loadmasters are only needed on
stations which are new to the freighter network
or if any odd-size cargo has to be
loaded like helicopters and for special charter
destinations. On regular outstations KLM
has it’s own staff; if the regular staff is not
available a loadmaster will be put on the flight
as well.
When doing charter flights I start
preparing a day before
the actual flight.
Cargo agents have to
be instructed on the
pallets configurations
because there are
weight, height and
shape restrictions, as
well as certain positions
we have to consider
when carrying
certain dangerous
goods. We can carry
30 pallets (88” X 125”
and 118” high -slightly
larger than
military 463L pallets,
ed.) on the maindeck
and another 9
pallets (limited to
61” high) in the
lower holds. Maximum
payload is
about 236,000
lbs).
Three
hours before flight
I start preparing
the loading instruction
and arrange all
other paperwork
like flight plans, NOTAC, weather, ATC info ,
crew information, GENDECs, make performance
calculations. Furthermore I check
items like catering, water supply, toilet service,
fuel quantity,
cleaning and the
availability of a
pushback tractor and
towbar. Then I go to
the aircraft to do the
actual loading.
In flight the loadmaster
performs a
maindeck check and
does some preparation
for the next leg
and also takes care of
food and drinks for the
cockpit crew and possible
passengers. We
operate mainly to
North America, the
Middle and far East, Europe and Africa. After
arrival it’s time to disengage the door
slides , open the passenger and cargo door
and instruct groundcrew after which the
offloading starts. The loadmaster is also responsible
for safe offloading, avoiding damage
to aircraft and cargo, personal safety
for the loaders. One of the major tasks is to
avoid tailtipping since we don’t work with
tailstands. Believe it or not, tailtipping is a
serious risk, specially during offloading a
747.
After offloading, most of the time I
go to the crew hotel (after flying one of the
longer legs), however, if there’s some more
flying to do we will fly back home right away
or fly double or triple stretches. It also happens
that the airline is positioning us to a
certain station with a regular passenger flight
to allow us to do some planning and instruction
before the freighter is coming through.
In my off days I also work for a second carrier
on flights within Europe.
I’ll tell you more in a later edition of
The Loader. Comments are welcomed via
H.Reede@wxs.nl
Seen on an internet site:
PRAISE THE LOAD
Take Care,
Herman Reede
An EP-3 Story
This from an Admiral who spent
some time at a barbecue talking to several
members of the EP-3 crew. “They’re
great young kids—impressive individuals
when you meet them.”
Best line of their experience:
You may remember that early in their detainment
on Hainan Island the DATT (US
Army 1-star) visited them in an open forum
with the Chinese present—consequently,
they were very limited in what they
could say. As he finished, the DATT asked
if there were any questions. An E-3 raised
his hand, stood up in the back of the group
and asked:
“What is the per diem rate here
in China?”
“You gotta love those EP-3
guys—they never lose focus” said the Admiral.