rearcargo hold doors - 747-400 pax

[hailstone]

SQ326 into FRA yesterday turned around in FRA without any cargo discharged from the rearcargohold, as doors were in-operable.

how common is this and what could have caused this ?

would one not be able to access the rearcargohold from the inside of the rearbelly and manually open the door from the inside ?

[BarryMonday]

The rear cargo hold, (usually known as the bulk cargo hold), is separated from the rear belly hold by a removeable cargo net.

The bulk cargo hold is normally used for lose bags, small freight and unusually shaped items like surf boards etc.

I am only guessing but it is possible the flight departed SIN with a u/s door so they would wish to keep it closed until there was time for it to be fixed. If required the bulk cargo space would be accessed via the rear belly hold.

[gas path]

More than likely a u/s actuator, and if the a/c is on a tight turn around it was possibly flown with the rear hold empty.
It is possible to manually wind the door actuators from outside, but if the lift actuator is inop. it takes a lot of winding, and you have to get it fully open before the cargo handling system is powered.

[hailstone]

thanks barry monday and gas path

actually it could not have been in/op out of SIN, as we had 2 LD7 and one LD3 positions worth of freight riding in the rear ULD hold....

another way of giving freight a ride for it's money....

[Dan Winterland]

The rear cargo hold and bulk cargo hold in a 747 are connected, separtated by a removeable flexible screen. if you can get into one, you can get into the other. However, you won't get ULDs out of the bulk cargo door. Either hold is not accessable from the main cabin or any other part of the aircraft.

The front cargo hold can be accessed from the forward electrical bay which can be accessed itself from the main cabin.

[BarryMonday]

Sorry Hailstone I misunderstood!:(

I thought you were talking about the bulk cargo hold door, the small one right at the back.

As DanW has said, no way you will get ULDs in there!:O

[hailstone]

thanks guys - i am clear on the fact that ULD's cannot be taken out of the bulk door.

what i was wondering was the likelyhood of one of the main lower deck compartments being totally jammed and that it also cannot be opened from the inside, manually.........

[gas path]

It's possible to have a jammed actuator and it depends on which one how one goes about opening the door.
It's not easy to get down the side of the containers but it can be done and there are several ways of getting to the actuators and drives etc.

[hailstone]

gaspath
seems that FRAPort as groundhandling agent / SQ engineer in FRA did not know what to do, or opted to leave it alone until a/c was back in SIN / homebase and not to incur any delays on a/c turnaround timings...........

[744rules]

Sometimes, cargo doors (both maindeck and lowerdeck) cannot not be opened as they are frozen, same as lavatory acces doors or watertank doors