Freight DogsFinally a forum for those midnight prowler types who utilise the unglamorous parts of airports that many of us never get to see. Freight Dogs is for pilots and crew who operate mostly without SLF.
B747f full of various armaments DC-8 container full of CS gas to Zimbabwe same DC-8 returning from Zim 3,feet x 3 foot box of platinum and my Favourite,chitty chitty bang bang.
A couple of decades ago. Six whores (and a load of booze) to a mining camp in the middle of absolutely nowhere in lousy rainy weather, arriving after midnight to land on a gravel strip without comms - and the only lighting being trucks and cars all on high beam pointed into the approach along both sides.
The boys had struck the mother lode. The ladies brought much of that home with them the next morning and boy were they ripe...
It was only after I sighted the size of the cheques that they were comparing (all signed by the Company Secretary) that I realized that I'd been born the wrong sex. Caught a ride home with one of the ladies in her Jaguar. Wife monitored my arrival home and grilled me about that fairly exhaustively. I needed to show her the flight-plan to get out from under her suspicions.
1994, flew 4 Russian made T62 tanks from Bourgas to Luanda. When we got there we discovered no keys to start them. Eager to escape the flack building up around us and the fact that an F27 had recently been attacked by ground fire, we fuelled up, filed a plan to PMI, then jump started the tanks and drove them into the sand. Why PMI - sounded a good place to escape to....
With nobody in sight, we obtained our clearance and got airborne. Funny how the credit card numbers disguised as permit numbers always work when overflying Africa
Once carried a plane load of Euro notes and two bullion guards into BOH, but on a slightly different note.... A buddy of mine was being interviewed about freighting by a TV show, the presenter said, "Have you ever carried any unusual cargo?" "Oh yes! We once carried a roll of carpet!" Really....
How about this one about two years ago flying JNB TO KGL,650 goats inside the A/C,the locals where runing out of food i think,we done a few flights back to back all with goats onboard,what a stink inside the aircraft,but they where good passengers,did'nt complain about the food and inflight enterainment.
Decode for non Ozzies = New leaves of the Eucalyptus Tree
Was down in Idris, Libiya out of Boscombe Down with a Valiant. Along the approach to the civil terminal is/was an avenue of Gum Trees. Family in UK would appreciate the smell of eucalyptus.
Picked a bunch and secured in weapon bay.
How can one explain to health/customs the importing of a bunch of leaves. Nearly locked up on suspicion of being a drug runner!
I went to KJFK in a Convair-580 to get 14,000lbs of car engines. The truck driver came out with a check in a yellow envolope for 1.5 millon dollars. We flew that 6 ounce load all the way to Mexico city. And people wonder why cars are so expensive.
In June of 2003 I flew 2500 lbs of seedless watermelons from YUM to ORD for Oprah. She used them on her show the next day. After all it was said and done each watermelon ended up costing her about $100 each.
25tonnes of Peach trees-ain't nuthing strange about those is there? Oops-they were for Sebbha middle of Sahara Desert where soil is a little thin on the ground. Oops 2 they were metal, had a wooden end and a hollow end ain't seen peach trees like that nice Man Mr Gaddafi wanted since that day
CR2, Well since keep pestering all of us about this and I don’t much else to do in this hotel room in the middle of the night I might just as well share my part of the glory in this, I am a bit sarcastic today but no pun intended so if you are faint of heart you should skip this.
Seem to recall carrying a 747 SF full of “Rush Baggage” from Jeddah to Kano, well it wasn’t in much of a hurry as it had been sitting in Jeddah since the previous Hajj with the accompanying grit and a stowaway cat the Nigerians took an instant liking to, not so sure it made the right choice there as it tended to look out at us from the doorway during the offloading obviously not liking the look of Nigeria for the first time, When we finally coaxed it out on the last pallet the last we saw of it was when it went scurrying across the ramp chased by 4 big black men with saliva running from their lips and plastic knifes and forks from the Trash bags in each hand.
Next trip I went down there was a week later again on the 747 SF with a plane full of Instant Identify card booths sponsored by the UN with the purpose to Issue Identity cards to all Nigerians, My initial hopes of the identity cards being A4 size so that you could spot them at a distance were proven false when it turned they were just like any other identity cards, Wallet Size!
And like the rest of you I have done my fair share of Ferraris, Porches, Mercedes and other display cars, Last pair of fancy cars I carried were a 57 Caddy and an 1960 Oldsmobile Limo belonging to one of the Royal Families in South East Asia going for service in Detroit. In retrospect it probably would have been cheaper to send a couple of Auto Mechanics First Class.
Did a couple of Rhinos to the Zoo in Shangahai, But then again with the Chinese you can never be to sure. The older one of the two we can be certain isn’t going to go easy on their dentures if they ever decide to go that way.
And again like the rest of you I have done my share of Goats, sheep, horses and even monkey’s although I am sure 3 of them didn’t go with their kin during the offloading.
The most unusual of the lot was one Pitts Special and a Piper Cup in the Forward belly of a B747 Passenger Aircraft going to the Oshkosh Airshow last year. Still not quite sure how we managed that without damaging the Aircraft.
And just to finish of I did an unusual one last week where I had a 16´ton Semi Truck going to SYD and a Huey right behind it.
So if I offended anyone; Tough Luck as you obviously did not head to my warning before reading.
So CR2, is the beer on me or you next time at Check in?
The most unusual of the lot was one Pitts Special and a Piper Cup in the Forward belly of a B747 Passenger Aircraft going to the Oshkosh Airshow last year. Still not quite sure how we managed that without damaging the Aircraft.
Now that is impressive Tell me more. Guess wings off, layed out the belly with empty pallets and pushed them in? I've driven cars (Audi A6 just fits) in that way.
Hajj baggage Fortunately I've managed to avoid those over the years Some of my colleagues have done them, I don't need to see it for myself ta very much.
Let me know when you're going to be in the Check Inn then! May well be my round....
Edit 01 Oct: Thanks for the sms Canine, beer on me!
Is it true?? Heard a story of a transport plane carrying cattle that bolted, opened the ramp at FLxxx, and some landed on a Japanese fishing fleet below. Explain that to your insurance man.
We carried a Land Cruiser into the middle of the DRC (had to flatten the tyres to get in). After off loading, humanitarian organisation in question realised they'd forgotten the pump.
...... a Japanese fishing boat had been sunk by a falling cow in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Eastern coast of Siberia. The shipwrecked crew were plucked from the sea, claiming that cows had fallen from the sky and one of them had gone straight through the deck and hull, capsizing the vessel. The fishermen were arrested for suspected marine insurance fraud, but freed after Russian and Japanese investigators found out that the story was true. Russian soldiers based on the island of Sakhalin had used a army transport plane to rustle a herd of cattle. Once airborne, the cattle moved about the aircraft, throwing it off balance. To avoid crashing, the crew drove them out of the large loading bay at the tail of the aircraft at 20,000 ft (6,000m).
According to Andrew Gimson's report from Berlin for the Daily Telegraph, a German diplomat sent an account of the incident to Bonn to illustrate the appalling state of air safety in Russia. His fax stated that he heard the story from the "well informed" Moscow representative of the American Federal Aviation Authority. The Daily Mail and the Express said the report came by e-mail to the German embassy on 28 April from one of its consulates in eastern Russia. The Scotsman, meanwhile, claimed that Reuters had traced the story to a Russian television comedy series 18 months ago called Peculiarities of the Hunt. The falling cow was then written up in Pravda in its urban legends column, and from there made its way to the Internet, where it was mentioned in The Scotsman's humorous report on the Darwin awards before being sent to the German embassy in Moscow, who took it seriously (the implication being that Germans lack a sense of humour).
All these journalists have a very short memory. The folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand was sent the story from the Moscow News in 1990 - or possibly even earlier. In this version, there was only one cow and one surviving fisherman, and the latter was sent to a mental hospital rather than to prison. This was reported in the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio on 17 Sept 1990
Strangest freight had to be 2T of guado (think its spelled right) from AIG to ALK a while back. Didn't bother asking why, maybe I should have! (btw, thats bat poo to you and me, guys n gals)
Then there was the time when we carried a flea circus for the Prince Nmbulu. Think someone could've been having a laugh there....
A cargo ground handler that accidenly got locked in the rear cargo hold. Flew from JHB Int. to Durban. Needless to say he was a tad paler when he was let out at the other end. It was not me flying but it was my company. Apparently he did not see the funny side of things. Unlike the cockpit crew who had to delay the next leg by an hour or so due to uncontrolled fits of laughter.
I have unloaded a B24 liberator off a C5 Galaxy, broken down of course, and in a bad state of repair, looks alot better now that duxford have finished working their magic with it. Have loaded a hawker hurricane, and a tornado onto C5 Galaxy's. They were a swap between museums in england and america.
Strange Frieght 
Fortunately I've managed to avoid those over the years 
Some of my colleagues have done them, I don't need to see it for myself ta very much.
Linear Mode
