He had flown 10 legs and had about 35 hours of flying time with the 777, which put him about halfway through the required training of 20 legs and 60 flight hours, when the plane went down, Hersman said. The "flying pilot" - as NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman referred to him - was a veteran pilot with nearly 10,000 hours of total flying time, though he was in his "initial operating experience" in flying the Boeing 777. If you’d like to learn more about freighter aircraft, be sure to check out these articles I wrote for NYCAviation and AeroSavvy:Ĭome Along As We Cross The Pacific – An Inside Look ()Īirline Flying: Cargo vs Passengers (AeroSavvy.There were three pilots in the cockpit at the time of the crash, according to crew interviews conducted by investigators. Here’s a time lapse video produced by Boeing that shows this amazing process: Large portions of the fuselage are removed and completely replaced with specially reinforced sections. Nearly every part of the aircraft is disassembled, inspected, cleaned, and repaired. How are passenger jets converted to freighters? Is it as easy as ripping out the passenger seats and cutting a big hole for a cargo door? No way! The old passenger jet that enters a conversion facility comes out like a new machine. ![]() Depending on the type of operation, buying used and converting can make good financial sense. Converting a 20-year-old Airbus A300 is about a third of the cost of a brand new aircraft ( reference). Passenger to cargo conversions are less expensive than buying a new aircraft. The real bonus on the big jets are bunks for additional crew members to rest during long flights.Ĭonverting An Aircraft For A Life Of Cargo I never turn down 747 coffee! The lavatory is a typical passenger lav that includes the extravagance of hot/cold running water. The 747s operated by my company include a full galley, complete with refrigerators and automatic drip coffee. Jumpseat configuration on a 747-400BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter). Behind the pilot seats, a freighter flight deck is very different from its passenger sibling. From the pilot seats forward, it would take an experienced crew member to tell the difference between a freighter and passenger aircraft. The 767-300 freighter flight deck, my home away from home. The video does a nice job showing how ULDs filled with packages are unloaded, sorted, and reloaded onto the aircraft. UPS produced a really fun time lapse video of its Worldport operation in Louisville, Kentucky. At the end of the video, notice the latches at the very bottom of the cargo door swing into position to seal and lock the door closed. This also gave me the opportunity to watch the cargo door close from the inside. On one rare occasion when we ferried an empty jet, I recorded a preflight stroll through the main deck of the aircraft. When we arrive at the aircraft for a flight, the main deck is usually a very busy place. Take a walking tour of a Boeing 767-300 freighter interior Unit Load Device (ULD) ready to be loaded. 747 freighters usually have windows in the “hump” because that area is used for jumpseats and crew rest facilities. A factory-built freighter will have smooth sides with not a window in sight. Building a freighter without windows lowers manufacturing costs and reduces the aircraft weight by hundreds of pounds. ![]() Installing windows on a fuselage requires extra reinforcement, which means extra weight. ![]() Even when they’re painted over, you can see the plugs if you look carefully (they’re easier to see on dirty airplanes).įactory-built cargo variants are windowless. A few still have the old acrylic panes, but on most conversions, the clear windows have been replaced with lightweight aluminum plugs to save on operating costs. Passenger conversions have passenger windows. It’s easy to tell the difference between a passenger conversion and a factory-built freighter: look for windows. When the package express industry exploded a few years ago, manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus began churning out cargo variants directly from the factory in record numbers. Converting an aircraft to a freighter is about a third of the cost of buying a new one, so there is a brisk market for conversions. Retired people-haulers go through a conversion process to start a new life as a freighter. Two Types Of Cargo Aircraft – Conversions and Freighter VariantsĪ few years ago, cargo fleets were comprised primarily of old passenger aircraft. A British Airways Boeing 777, equipped to carry passengers on the main deck and cargo under the floor.
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