strangest freight
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: Cambridge
Young Elephants
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 196
Likes: 7
From: Where I hang my hat.
Heard about this from a former GF in the airfreight business back in the early '70's, a light plane was bringing a loaded coffin and other small packages from Mt Isa to Brisbane, and had a fuel stop in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, at altitude about 20 mins later, the pilot, the only 'living' thing on board experienced a nudge on the shoulder, fearing the worst, he slowly turned, to see a black cat, it must have snuck on board during refuelling earlier. Much relief. !
See and avoid
Joined: Mar 2003
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 757
Likes: 131
From: USA
'World's Loneliest Elephant' Moving To Sanctuary, With Help From Cher
Kaavan the elephant has been languishing in poor conditions in Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad since 1985, according tothe animal welfare group Four Paws International. He was brought there as a gift from Sri Lanka at 1 year old..On Sunday, Kaavan will move to an animal sanctuary in Cambodia, where he will be able to socialize with other elephants.
..."Transferring an adult elephant on a plane is something very, very rare," said Four Paws spokesperson Martin Bauer. Previous transfers he knows of have been much shorter distances between zoos in the U.S.
"An elephant transfer by plane on this scale I think has never happened before, so we are writing history here," he told NPR.
..."Transferring an adult elephant on a plane is something very, very rare," said Four Paws spokesperson Martin Bauer. Previous transfers he knows of have been much shorter distances between zoos in the U.S.
"An elephant transfer by plane on this scale I think has never happened before, so we are writing history here," he told NPR.
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 408
Likes: 1
From: Bonvoy Marriott
Joined: Sep 2003
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 955
Likes: 68
From: away from home
5000 minks on a 757F from Billund to Gander. Truly awfully smelly passengers! As luck would have it, YQX closed on us and we diverted to St. Johns (YYT) where the b****y ctitters were offloaded. Felt like incinerating my uniform after this flight.
Avoid imitations
Joined: Nov 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 15,112
Likes: 1,086
From: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
I was once tasked to pick up an entire inboard flap from a three week old Boeing 747. The entire thing had fallen off that aircraft as the flaps were lowered during the IGS to the old Kai Tak airport, Hong Kong.
Strange thing was, it was lying slap bang on the piano key markings of the then not yet commissioned CLK airport!
It was far too long to fit in the S-70 cabin and the CAD reps who had tasked us wanted me to put it in a cargo net and fly it underslung. I refused, because it would be a dangerous load - after all, it was meant to fly....
We fitted it across the cabin, "P stropped" to the floor and facing upside down and backwards. Flew OK at 50 kts with both doors open and we safely recovered it to its intended destination at Kai Tak.
Strange thing was, it was lying slap bang on the piano key markings of the then not yet commissioned CLK airport!
It was far too long to fit in the S-70 cabin and the CAD reps who had tasked us wanted me to put it in a cargo net and fly it underslung. I refused, because it would be a dangerous load - after all, it was meant to fly....
We fitted it across the cabin, "P stropped" to the floor and facing upside down and backwards. Flew OK at 50 kts with both doors open and we safely recovered it to its intended destination at Kai Tak.
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 1,038
Likes: 23
From: Someday I will find a place to stop
A few coffins over time (HUM), first one I saw I didn't know what it was in the dim light, as they are covered in muslin cloth, fortunately a loader told me right before I was about to step on it to reach my bags.
Tractor parts, flowers for a florist show.
Full pallets of newspapers, the normal plane had gone tech and we were called in. Our plane didn't have floor rollers so each pallet had to be trolley jacked in.
Another airline I worked for, in the pax underbelly I recall they once transported live bee hives, on another occasion a live leopard for the zoo. The pilots sent a acars that the cockpit smelt of pussy...
Tractor parts, flowers for a florist show.
Full pallets of newspapers, the normal plane had gone tech and we were called in. Our plane didn't have floor rollers so each pallet had to be trolley jacked in.
Another airline I worked for, in the pax underbelly I recall they once transported live bee hives, on another occasion a live leopard for the zoo. The pilots sent a acars that the cockpit smelt of pussy...
Joined: Dec 2012
Aviation Qualifications: LAME
Posts: 1,159
Likes: 841
From: Co. Down
When a PPL flew himself into a misty hillside his fellow club members borrowed a coffin from the local undertaker to prove it would fit into a Partenavia. It did -- just about -- and as the deceased didn't mind a bit of a squeeze they flew him home.
The same airfield witnessed the arrival of three pedigree sheep in the back of a Cherokee Six -- I don't know how they were confined as cargo did not include a sheepdog ...
My Paro needed overhaul of its wobbly prop at Scottish Aviation in Prestwick. To avoid its hefty landing fees I fitted my prop into a friend's MS880 which easily managed a short grass strip some 20 miles south. My friends at SA met me with their families which I took for a brief joyride to see their houses, they left with my prop wedged between and over their apparently happy kids, and my beautifully rebuilt prop was returned the same way.
The same airfield witnessed the arrival of three pedigree sheep in the back of a Cherokee Six -- I don't know how they were confined as cargo did not include a sheepdog ...
My Paro needed overhaul of its wobbly prop at Scottish Aviation in Prestwick. To avoid its hefty landing fees I fitted my prop into a friend's MS880 which easily managed a short grass strip some 20 miles south. My friends at SA met me with their families which I took for a brief joyride to see their houses, they left with my prop wedged between and over their apparently happy kids, and my beautifully rebuilt prop was returned the same way.
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: hong kong