"Of travel I had my share, man. I've been everywhere"
- Johnny Cash // I've been everywhere
It's Friday night, 02:00 AM. A time where if you'd go into any city, you'd see loads of people out enjoying themselves in bars and clubs. My alarm goes off. A big yawn and a stretch and I get out of bed; time to prepare for work!
Tonight we will be loading for New York. As soon as I get downstairs I check my e-mail to see if the DLS* is already sent out and quickly find out it's in the mail. Full flight! Luckily for me, it's well in time so I can quietly plan at home and already prepare some of the paperwork. Paperwork? Yes. Some airlines work with an electronic system for planning, but my airline still relies on good old A3 paper loadsheets for the time being.
* Dead load statement: the list of pallets with cargo (and it's special remarks, if applicable) that I have to plan to uplift on this flight.
Many numbers, factors, lines; the loadplanner. Part 1 of the paperwork.
Whenever I start planning, there are a couple (ahem.. a lot, but these are some of the major ones) of things for me to keep in mind;
- Amount of pallets and their height.
- Weight and balance of the aircraft - because, well, else we're not going anywhere or possibly die (no pressure!).
- Positional limitations on the aircraft.
- Special cargo remarks like long pieces, heavy pieces that require additional strapping or temperature sensitive cargo.
- Dangerous goods. This can be anything from f.e. lithium ion batteries or even ping pong balls (yes, really!).
- Multiple destinations, if applicable. Sometimes we load the aircraft for a 2 or even 3 destination drop-off.
A straight forward load, nothing really special so in about 30 minutes the planning and preparation is done. Time for a quick shower, braid my hair, smear some make-up on my eyes, put on my uniform and head to Liege by car (loudly singing along to my favourite songs!).
Sometimes in white, most of the time in black!
Once I get to the terminal, I mindlessly walk to the security checkpoint. Like any other person entering the "closed" area of an airport or departing on a flight, we are subject to a security check. Shoes off (which were supposed to be metal free so I could keep them on...), electronics out and as soon as I pass through the metal detector I hear a loud beep. A random check, once again (seriously, I hit those a LOT!). Stick out my hands, let the security person swipe them and wait for the results of the explosive trace detector. All clear and I may set foot outside on the apron. I could make a call for a crewbus from the terminal to the aircraft, but almost always choose for the 5 minute morning walk to enjoy watching the other aircraft passing by and mentally go over my upcoming flight once more. Unless it rains. Then I'm proud to say that I'm the pussy who actually calls the crewbus for that 1.5 minute ride.
Our standard is to meet the aircraft upon arrival and 4 hours pre departure time. In other words: make sure that you are there when the aircraft lands so your colleague can go to the hotel (or home) as soon as possible and you will have time to offload/load and finalise your paperwork on board.
In the distance, I see our beautiful Boeing 747 touch down. After a short taxi the pilots carefully taxi her onto the ramp and shut down the engines. The ground team gets to work immediately; place wheel chocks, connect an external ground power unit and connect the stairs to the aircraft. My colleague swings open the door and we greet each other warmly. A quick chat and a brief on the cargo that has to be offloaded, after which he steps off to continue to a well deserved rest. I quickly run upstairs, greet the inbound crew and drop my bags in the "loadmaster seat".
Time for me to get to work! Through the narrow pathway I walk to the back of the aircraft while flipping up the left lane side restraints with my feet with every step I take. Somehow, I got so used to measuring my steps, that with each step I take I flip up a restraint - left; flip, right; flip, left; flip, right; flip; the loadmaster shuffle. Once I get to the back of the aircraft, I open up the main cargo door and see the ground staff is already stand-by to connect the main deck loader. With a little guidance we position it as straight as possible next to the aircraft and I switch on my loading system.
A loud mechanical sound comes from the floor; one of my favourite sounds of the whole aircraft. Today I'm working with a system that I know best and is definitely the quickest out there. Plus; it has a very distinctive sound when operated. With just a simple joystick movement and use of some flick-switches, the wheels in the floor (power drive units or PDU's) start moving the pallets out of the aircraft.
Sidenote: depending on the type of Boeing 747 (factory built freighter, Boeing Converted Freighter or BEDEK Special Freighter), there is a system from 1 of 3 manufacturers installed. All with their own specifications and ways of operating.
A video of the Telair system (my fave!), loading pallets through the side door.
While I'm working on getting the pallets on the main deck out from back to front, I can hear that the ground team simultaniously started on offloading the aft lower deck cargo compartment . One of my essential tasks is to make sure the aircraft is offloaded and loaded via a fixed sequence:
Offloading:
- Lower deck aft + bulk
- Main deck aft to forward
- Forward lower deck
Loading:
- Forward lower deck
- Main deck forward to aft
- Lower deck aft + bulk
A layout of the cargo compartments on the Boeing 747.
If I don't instruct the ground staff to adhere to these sequences, there is a chance that I have a very big problem: A Boeing 747 which is tailtipped. Which means: end of carreer in most cases. And well, no. Lets not do that!
Since I'm working with various teams all around the world, it's always a matter of "trust no one, check everything". Some countries are infamous for having underqualified ground staff, unfortunately. And if you know that the Boeing 747 is a beast of 67m long with 3 main cargo compartments on two seperate levels, you might understand that a loadmaster has to have eyes and ears literally everywhere.
A very big "OOPS" that happened in Incheon (South Korea) in 2021.
Meanwhile, the offloading of the main deck is nearly done and I instruct the ground staff which is down at the aircraft to start on the forward lower deck. Once the last pallets are off the main deck, I run down to check how the forward lower deck is progressing and stand by for loading. A glance on my watch tells me that everything is still going according plan and I give the guys at HQ a call that they can rudely awaken the pilots to prepare for their departure out of the hotel. Once all 5 pallets are loaded into the forward lower deck, I double check if all restraints are up and locked in and tell the ground staff that they may close the cargo door.
I move myself back up the stairs to the main deck, because thats where the show continues. Todays load is a straight forward one; no dangerous goods, temperature sensitive or big/heavy pieces. The ground team is on point and maintains a steady flow of pallets coming up the loader and into the aircraft. Before a pallet comes in, I shine my torch over the corner where the pallet number is located and crosscheck it with the loadplan I made to see if they brought up the right pallet for the right position due to weight distribution.
The weight distribution is a key factor in loading an aircraft. Basicly, any aircraft is like a see-saw which you have to balance within a lot of limits to make it able to fly. A solid understanding of basic physics and calculus is an absolute must to work as a loadmaster. Honestly, I always giggle when I say this because I know I'm not a béta girl. Not at all. But it works and if you know your weaknesses you can improve them and/or learn how to work with them (bless the pocket calculator!).
Once I've loaded about 4/5th of the main deck, I instruct the guys who are standing by at the aft lower deck to start the loading while I stay up on the main deck to put in pallet number 30; the last one before we close the main cargo door. A quick look on my watch again and I see we are progressing well ahead of time. Door locked, lets run downstairs again and see if the ground team has done a good job in loading the aft lower deck compartment. While I'm walking towards the nose of the aircraft, I double check if all restraints on the main deck are also locked in place and find that one side restraint is accidently not clicked into place. A hop on the corner of the pallet and a flick with my foot and it catches nicely again.
Sometimes it doesn't fit nicely and you have to improvise in getting a pallet off or on.
Downstairs I find that the guys have trouble loading one of the last pallets; the weight distribution of the cargo on the pallet is a bit off and the PDU's in the lower deck struggle to get a grip on the bottom of the pallet to move it into position. In these cases, it's a definite advantage that I'm not a lightweight! I hop onto the pallet and place my feet out wide so that the additional weight causes just enough pressure for the PDU's to get a grip and move the pallet into place. Since I'm in the compartment anyway, I will already check the loaded pallets and wait for the last one to move and lock in. Great job guys, thanks - you may close the door!
Once again, I run up the stairs to the main deck of the aircraft. Getting those 10k steps in is quite an easy task when you're a loadmaster! The crew has arrived, I strap their bags securely to the floor and climb the little ladder that takes me up to the upper deck; the place where the cockpit, galley (food!) and our seats are. Basicly our little home for the upcoming hours.
First things first before I finalise my paperwork: greeting the crew and aquiring the final fuel figures from the Captain. Without these numbers, I cannot continue - so it's rather important I get them as quickly as possible so we don't get delayed because I was Captain Slow Calculation (which I already am, lol). Right, numbers in, weight and balance "drawing" made, NOTOC* crosschecked and all paperwork reviewed and finished. I walk up to the cockpit; "Captain, I can brief you whenever you are ready". The guys are ready for my information and I tell them all they need know before they can continue "programming" the aircraft for departure and flight. Information transferred and minutes to spare; nice!
*NOTOC: Notification to the captain. A list of dangerous goods and special cargo loaded into the aircraft. It shows what type of goods in which position are loaded and which emergency procedures the crew has to use if shit goes haywire on board.
A schematic on the so called "loadsheet" - part 2 of the paperwork which shows the center of gravity when the aircraft is loaded but not fuelled (Zero Fuel Weight // ZFW), the center of gravity on Take Off Weight (TOW) and Landing Weight (LDW). The thick blue lines are a schematic of the aircraft and the limits to stay within.
Sidenote, this is a snip from an electronic loadingsystem.
As I enjoy taking nice picures to document my travels when there is time to spare, I run down again for a snapshot before we depart. Then, a couple minutes later the "OK to close the L1 door" from the captain, take a seat, lean back and enjoy the sound of her engines spooling up.
In about 7 hours we will land in New York, where I will stay for 2 days before I go back to Liege. Then 12 hours at home and onwards to Africa!
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