strangest freight
Not a strange cargo per se but very odd crew baggage. One of my instructors at Seattle was ex Pan Am, he told me how on a London trip he saw a Mercedes sports car for sale, I can't remember the model, the price was right so he bought it. When he asked the LHR station manger about getting it shipped to the US the manager told him why not just put a crew tag on it and he would put it in the hold as crew baggage as they were positioning an empty 747 back to JFK.
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Vic Australia
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Thinking of cars in the freight hold, in the late 80's DHL/EAT purchased some CV580's from Summit in the US. One of the ramp managers in BRU on detachment from CVG, Mike S*****, (great guy by the way) arranged to import his VW on the main deck. It just, just, fitted in and we had a fun time getting it out again in BRU. The problem appeared when Mike took it for service. "What is this monsieur?" asked the VW dealer. "It's a VW Golf of course" said Mike. "No monsieur- it may look like a Golf but is a VW Fox built in the US for the US market and we have no parts for this!"
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: England
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Ever seen an Aeroflot stewardess cry?
I was at Accra refuelling aircraft impressed into the UN Congo airlift in July 1960. Two brand new IL18s arrived as the Soviet contribution. They had been on Moscow - Prague service but had been ordered straight on to Accra, so still had cabin crew on board.
As pure passenger a/c they weren't much use for heavily equipped troops (USAF C130s did almost all the lift), so they were loaded with cwt (112 lbs in old money) sacks of flour, one on each seat. Flour everywhere. The Aeroflot girls were intensely proud of their new aircraft (they hadn't seen a Britannia till they got to Accra!), and yes, I saw the two stewardesses on the first a/c weeping at the top of the steps as bag after bag of flour was carried past them.
Incidentally, the Soviet Embassy paid for their fuel in gold roubles, causing me to mention this to the appropriate person in UK High Commission - what would the Soviets be doing with a ready supply of gold roubles in Ghana?
If anybody's interested I've got a few other reminiscences of the airlift, and a few photos of the a/c.
I was at Accra refuelling aircraft impressed into the UN Congo airlift in July 1960. Two brand new IL18s arrived as the Soviet contribution. They had been on Moscow - Prague service but had been ordered straight on to Accra, so still had cabin crew on board.
As pure passenger a/c they weren't much use for heavily equipped troops (USAF C130s did almost all the lift), so they were loaded with cwt (112 lbs in old money) sacks of flour, one on each seat. Flour everywhere. The Aeroflot girls were intensely proud of their new aircraft (they hadn't seen a Britannia till they got to Accra!), and yes, I saw the two stewardesses on the first a/c weeping at the top of the steps as bag after bag of flour was carried past them.
Incidentally, the Soviet Embassy paid for their fuel in gold roubles, causing me to mention this to the appropriate person in UK High Commission - what would the Soviets be doing with a ready supply of gold roubles in Ghana?
If anybody's interested I've got a few other reminiscences of the airlift, and a few photos of the a/c.
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: MAN/AUH
Age: 58
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Regular shipments of over 20 tons of Body armour from MAN to DXB, Final destination Bagdad.
Nothing strange in that except the said body armour was manufactured in
Oman! Shipped to LHR then by road to MAN then flown back to middle east. Has someone got soething to hide
Nothing strange in that except the said body armour was manufactured in
Oman! Shipped to LHR then by road to MAN then flown back to middle east. Has someone got soething to hide
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: UK
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A few years back I did some Dispatching at EGSS. Came in late one afternoon for the evening shift and one of our Ramp Leaders, who had the broadest west country accent you can imagine regailed us of his day.....
"Well this morning I was doing the Cyprus, loading instructions said one piece at 100kg in the forward hold. Well with 10 minutes to go no sign of it. Now rules is ain't if, if it's cargo and don't turn up, don't f**king go does it? So we closed up cleared away, pushed back and f**ked off. Five hours later I got called into Boss's office, Andy I gota suspend ya. Party of twenty to Cyprus for a funeral, sandwhiches laid on for 200, no deceased".
So needless to say HUM's became the watchword over the coming weeks. So late one evening as the show was coming to an end most of us sat around the table in the rest room awaiting home time, with just another Cyprus going on in the background. Radio crackles to life
"Cyprus from ops"
"Go ahead"
"Malc, have you loaded that coffin yet?"
"Nooooooo"
"Whatever you do don't load that coffin. I've just had the undertaker on the phone and he thinks there's been a mixup at his end"
I've never laughed so hard with so many other people. I had to pull over on the way home because I coulnd't see where I was going for the tears in my eyes.
"Well this morning I was doing the Cyprus, loading instructions said one piece at 100kg in the forward hold. Well with 10 minutes to go no sign of it. Now rules is ain't if, if it's cargo and don't turn up, don't f**king go does it? So we closed up cleared away, pushed back and f**ked off. Five hours later I got called into Boss's office, Andy I gota suspend ya. Party of twenty to Cyprus for a funeral, sandwhiches laid on for 200, no deceased".
So needless to say HUM's became the watchword over the coming weeks. So late one evening as the show was coming to an end most of us sat around the table in the rest room awaiting home time, with just another Cyprus going on in the background. Radio crackles to life
"Cyprus from ops"
"Go ahead"
"Malc, have you loaded that coffin yet?"
"Nooooooo"
"Whatever you do don't load that coffin. I've just had the undertaker on the phone and he thinks there's been a mixup at his end"
I've never laughed so hard with so many other people. I had to pull over on the way home because I coulnd't see where I was going for the tears in my eyes.
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Chicago
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Seems. as if animals are always the strangest freight. I once had a very large sled dog team in a very small airplane--Piper Chieftain. Most of the seats were out, so, looking back, it was all sled, bags, 13 dogs, and one musher. After not too long, two of the females fell out, and the view looking back was just teeth, claws and flying fur. Quite a sight, lots like a really bad bar fight. The musher solved it all by literally wading into the fray and biting one of the offending dogs as hard as he could on her right ear. After that, all was quickly quiet, and he looked up at me and grinned.
Otherwise, a 747 should hold about 170 pregnant cows. But, when that mission suffers big delays, those ladies start having big problems if they are not off-loaded and watered. One of the most entertaining experiences of my career so far was watching my flight engineer trying to coax our local handlers into recruiting some willing local rancher into helping us. Which they did, and all was well. Nearly 200 pregnant cows on a Belgian cargo ramp is quite a sight.
Otherwise, a 747 should hold about 170 pregnant cows. But, when that mission suffers big delays, those ladies start having big problems if they are not off-loaded and watered. One of the most entertaining experiences of my career so far was watching my flight engineer trying to coax our local handlers into recruiting some willing local rancher into helping us. Which they did, and all was well. Nearly 200 pregnant cows on a Belgian cargo ramp is quite a sight.
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Western USA
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Flying a metal box "trommel", only one, from a mine in east-Angola to Luanda during 2001, in a Hercules C130, full of diamonds !!!
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Gatwick
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More Semen & Stuff
Every Monday, we carried 15kgs (gross weight) of Pigs semen from London to Denmark so a) I guess Danish bacon is actually English and b) the supplying farmer must have had an enertaining weekend.
Also carried British Olympic rowing teams "boat" to Ibiza for training but even on a Caledonian Tristar , it was too long to get in forward hold. We ignored the shippers instruction to "cut it in half" but that is exactly what they did then stuck it together at destination.
The USA used to buy it's surgical gloves from Taiwan and on arrival, irradiate them to kill all bacteria but their facility was broken. So gloves were sea freighted to the USA, we flew them to the UK, they were irradiated (told it was Sellerfield) and then we flew them back. According to agent, Gamma radiation kills all bacteria but not dangerous to aircraft or pax.
Also carried British Olympic rowing teams "boat" to Ibiza for training but even on a Caledonian Tristar , it was too long to get in forward hold. We ignored the shippers instruction to "cut it in half" but that is exactly what they did then stuck it together at destination.
The USA used to buy it's surgical gloves from Taiwan and on arrival, irradiate them to kill all bacteria but their facility was broken. So gloves were sea freighted to the USA, we flew them to the UK, they were irradiated (told it was Sellerfield) and then we flew them back. According to agent, Gamma radiation kills all bacteria but not dangerous to aircraft or pax.
