Originally Posted by
Scuffers
Don't disagree with any of this although I really think it's kind of missing the point.
Most air-freight is pallet/container based, talk of roll-on/off is meaningless, cars are put on pallets and shipped like everything else.
Other point with the A380 is that it's internal volume is massive Vs. it's max load weight compared to other freighters (747 etc), and most current fighters are load limited by weight not volume. What I am getting at here is why bother using the upper deck for freight? as you have said, loading it would be a PITA and with only the main and lower decks, you're likely to hit the weight limit anyway, leaving the upper deck also give the option of carrying 100-150 passengers etc.
It's not the max load weight that is the issue, it's the pressure exerted by the load on the floor. Even with palletised loads you've still got the problem of having a strong enough floor to secure the pallet rails, etc to.