Least cargo you've ever carried?

[Exhaust Manifold]

Not counting ferry flights, positioning flights, etc. Only actual cargo flights.

Last year I carried a whole 4 kg (8.82 lbs) :eek: out of Maputo! Eish difficult to climb in those conditions.

[Farmer 1]

A key, to a safe.

It was on an offshore platform, and inside the safe were explosives, which were needed urgently. The nearest spare was onshore, about 100 miles away.

So, off we went and picked up the key. Attached to it was a luggage label, on which was printed the key's details.

We returned to the platform, and handed the key over when we shut down. The chap ran off with it and disappeared down the stairs. When we followed a few minutes later, there was a distinct atmosphere downstairs.

The bloke with the key, overjoyed at his new possession, had thrown it to his mate. The wind had caught on the label, and taken it and the key over the side.

I looked at the platform manager, who looked at the bloke who needed the explosives, who looked back at the platform manager, who, with a look of despair in his eyes, looked back at me, who turned round and walked back up to the helideck.


Very small items are not all that uncommon offshore; often small enough to fit into an envelope. With operating costs higher than those in the aviation world, and penalties for loss of production quoted in international telephone number type figures, it is understandable.

[Daede1]

box of syringes.

And on one occasion, two vials.

[GBNGH]

B707, four horses, Stansted - Australia

[BlueEagle]

One very important 800kg. piece of 'down-the hole' equipment for Schlumberger(spl?) on an otherwise empty B747-400F.

[fat-controller]

fresh air - B747-400 - STN-HKG

[flying_tyger]

couple of suitcases for a saudi princess on an AN-12

[Frt-Door]

Two stacks of empty plts on B747F LHR-DXB-LHR.
And a good time was had by all.

[CargoOne]

copy/paste of my one old post:

The ad-hoc charter flight DC10F from LUX to Mombasa, Kenya.
Estimated payload was 50 000 kgs.
At the time of loading it has turned to 50 (fifty) kilos (one small box).
Nevertheless aircraft made a techstop at Cairo for refuelling as initially planned, becuase it was too late to change overflight/landing clearances through the Africa.

[Dan Winterland]

One computer chip, dimensions 4cm by 2cm. The info on it was the valuable bit I gather. But I have flown an empty 747F at least twice.

Flew a pax 747 across the atlantic once with 1 pax. He had to be downgraded as well as he had to sit on the upper deck as we only had one cabin crew.

[antonovman]

100t of fuel on an AN124 to KBL
A/C was empty so we filled it with fuel and it was drawn out in Kabul, they had no a/c fuel in afghanistan

[JW411]

Montego Bay to Bermuda with a 5 gallon can of AVPIN in a Belfast.

[MetAl]

Not counting the numerous 747's full of sailboat fuel, or stacks of pallets, the least would have to be a drill rig tool, weighed maybe 10 pounds.

Did it on a Corporate plane, and wouldn't ya know, we had to restock the bar at the end of the flight. Those rig tools really love their scotch.

[MetAl]

Huh? Only one cabin monkey? I always thought stews were assigned by seats installed.
One computer chip, dimensions 4cm by 2cm. The info on it was the valuable bit I gather. But I have flown an empty 747F at least twice.
Flew a pax 747 across the atlantic once with 1 pax. He had to be downgraded as well as he had to sit on the upper deck as we only had one cabin crew.

[Dan Winterland]

The upper deck can be considered a cabin in it's own right. All you need is one CC to man the upper deck doors.

[CargoMatatu]

Many moons ago I was tasked with going to Mildenhall to turn a scheduled Herc operating for MAC (now AMC).

The aircraft arrived empty and departed with one small box weighing FOUR POUNDS!:eek:

Needless to say, as it had a four hour turnround time, I made sure that it had as many straps on it as I could find:ok:

Only glad that I was not a U.S. tax payer:p

[newt]

Faro to Gib with 40 bottles of port!! (420kts low level in a Jag) Port needed for mess dinner night!!

[CR2]

Great thread. May I change the direction? I've done 744F to FL450 empty in 13 mins. I'm sure many of you have too. The thread is called "least CARGO carried" (sic).

Me: 742F 10Kg empty boxes.

[Treetopflyer]

A six-pack of strawberry yogurts in a Beech 1900, in Africa. We had to bring them for the wife of the country's president, who was staying in the bush for a couple days... And her staff had forgotten to take her beloved yogurts along...:\

Anyways, now that their debt is cancelled, it doesn't matter anymore...:mad:

[Hogg]

Flew a very very expensive painting in a 757SF from Malta to Frankfurt under tight security!!

Didnt even get a chance to see the "old thing". Think it was something being repatriated from WW2

CR2 saw one of ure birds in Accra last week goin lux.

Howya

[CR2]

Good mate, been a while. We're in ACC every Tue, getting pineapples.

[757manipulator]

Thata alota pinnaples! where do you guys stay in ACC?

[CR2]

Labadi Beach last time I checked. Golden Tulip ok too. Drinks at Aquarius, night out at Makumba if I remember correctly....

[757manipulator]

Ahhh Makumba..nightfighter paradise:} , dinner at Monsoon is a good night out as well. Our crews usually stay at the Cresta Royal:ok:

[100BMEP]

Years ago flew a bulked out (read potato chips everywhere) Connie from Mia to Sju. Think the chips weighed about 5000lbs. We ate well ;)

[Hockham Admiral]

:} I remember flying a 757 radome from Luton to Sweden in a Belfast! The LM [B][U]carried [U][B] it onto the aeroplane! That was it; £10,000 in the bank for old HLA!

[Bluesleep]

Organ transports in the Lear 25. Cant really be compared to flying 74's with one pax or flying 21 kgs in the A 300 but it was amusing to us.
Hugging the runway to xxx kts and then 0 up thru 14000 ft in around 45 seconds.

[Hawker-rider]

Flew twice across the Continental USA to pick up 3 bolts in LAX and bling them to Miami. I just put them in the pocket of my pants..

Also did the empty 747 a few times.. completely empty with any paying freight/Passengers.

[flying 2 low]

Ok, not a real flying story but when I drove truck for a carrier contracted to General Motors, we were asked to haul loads weighing 100-500lbs- somtimes even less- on trips up to 500 mi. long in trucks designed for a 20,000 payload. This happened almost every other day, and yet the job paid better than average for a driving job.
Cheaper than flying and door-to-door, almost as fast I guess.

[babalulu]

lear 24 KMCI to the canadian artic. Oil factory.
2boxes of screws. 5lbs 3600nm rt

[atlas4ever]

Back in the lat 70s, I flew a box that was probably 10" cubed on a C141 from Charleston, South Carolina to Biluxi, Mississippi. The box contained a gyro for a sister "Marietta Hunchback" that was broken in Biluxi. When we got back to Charleston and checked in with the Command post, we were told the replacement gyro we'd delivered was deffective. :ooh: Yup, we took another trip to Biluxi with another 10" box. BTW, our callsign was "ASHOE"! ATC had fun with that one. :E