Oops...damn aft CG

[Schnugg]

MEXICO CITY -- A Varig airlines cargo plane from Brazil sits parked at the Mexico City airport with its nose up in the air after the cargo was unevenly distributed. Brazil's troubled flagship airline, Varig, is reeling under an estimated US$3.3 billion (euro2.7 billion) in debt and is currently in the restructuring phase of bankruptcy proceedings and, last April 12, some 300 Varig employees boarded a chartered jet to Brasilia, the nation's capital, to call on the federal government to bail out the company, which employs 11,000 people. (04/17/06 AP photo)

 

[East]

Tailstand

Happend numerous times before on the MD-11.
It has all to do with the fact that the MD-11 is basically a strecthed DC-10 and that the Stabilizer in the MD-11 is a fuel tank (tail tank). If during cargo (un)loading the FWD LWR CGO hold is emptied, the main deck is being loaded (loading starts at the tail section due to lack of a side CGO Door like the B747F) and refuel is in progress............sh!t like this might happen (and it will).
The only solution will be flying with dedicated Loadmasters, but like everything in commercial aviation, this is too expensive. Once an incident like this happened, for the costs involved, the company could have sent L/M along for 10 years. Good to see that the military still have their senses and flies with a crewconcept which includes L/Ms + F/Es....

 

[VAmookie]

i think i see A4's in the cockpit

 

[A4sForever]

i think i see A4's in the cockpit

LIARS !!!
AHEM .... now that I have composed myself ... this is how we handle this "problem" ... please note the "jackstand" holding up the tail of the NWA freighter while loading/unloading cargo on the main deck.

It's got nothing to do with military vs. civilian cargo handling ... but it's got a whole bunch to do with idiots (in or out of uniform) doing cargo handling ....

 

[Lawman]

My personal favorite for "Oh sh!t Im not getting out of this one," moments is a little closer to home.

 

[East]

LIARS !!!
AHEM .... now that I have composed myself ... this is how we handle this "problem" ... please note the "jackstand" holding up the tail of the NWA freighter while loading/unloading cargo on the main deck.

It's got nothing to do with military vs. civilian cargo handling ... but it's got a whole bunch to do with idiots (in or out of uniform) doing cargo handling ....

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a tailjackpoint on a DC-10 nor MD-11. Jackpoints fitted on the wings and on the right side of the nose section only.

What I meant with dedicated Loadmasters in the military is that they know how to load/unload the aircraft and ' local' loadmasters might not. Normally there is always 1 person on a station who recieved the training and is also qualified to supervise the cgohandling process. There is a risk that the contracted loadmaster deligates this task to someone who is used (AND QUALIFIED) to other types of airplanes. There is the danger what I try to point out, if you load a MD-11 in the same sequence as a B747, you definately will have a tipover situation. The MD-11 has a tipover alarm installed, which activates when the squat switch on the NLG detects less than 700 KGs on its axle. The tipover detection system shuts down the part of groundhandling bus responsible for the electrical loading sytem and sounds a horn accompanied by warning lights on the main and LWR Cargo holds. In case of this event the dangerous situation still exists and you should know what to do. In the first place you need to get the CGO on the main deck in front of the wing (CG). Often, to facilitate room, inexperienced Loadmasters will remove CGO from the main deck out of the airplane and a tipover might or will occur. Aware of this danger, Flying Loadmasters will follow their procedures (like in the military) while the local contracted Loadmasters will take care of the Loading proces (on paper) from their office and deligate this supervisory task to an unqualified collegue.

Bunch of morons; yes / Avoidable; no / Hi risk to the company; yes
Could be prevented by dedicated Loadmasters who know their procedures (and yes, that is how it works in the USAF with their fleet of KC-10 aircraft). It happened never in the USAF on their KC-10 fleet while their commercial brethren have it from time to time.....