Originally Posted by
pattern_is_full
Ideally - you'd want the door to be between the landing gear, so as to prevent the first pallet put in the door causing the tail (or nose) to flop on the ground.
On a forward cargo door freighter you wouldn't position the first pallets at the back right away right? Otherwise you tip the aircraft.
You would have to constantly be shifting the already loaded pallets as more pallets are being loaded.
Whereas, on on the aft cargo door freighters, the first pallets loaded are positioned straight to the front to secure the CG of the aircraft for the rest of the pallets to be loaded.
Wouldn't an aft cargo door setup save time this way? Or what am I missing?
BTW this question is about landing gear configurations like the 777 or A330 not taildraggers.