On board a cargo plane
How do freight aircraft differ from passenger planes, enabling them to transport much greater loads all over the planet?
Cargo planes – whether used in the private, military or commercial sphere – are fixed-wing vehicles that have usually been designed with haulage in mind or have been converted from standard aircraft. Passenger planes commonly have a specialised hold that can store around 150 cubic metres (over 5,000 cubic feet) of freight, found on the underside of the craft. Dedicated freight planes don’t need the seats or any of the other amenities on commercial flights – that said, their design amounts to much more than a hollowed-out passenger plane.
To make the most efficient use of the space available, the floor is lined with a walkway and electronic rollers that allow prepackaged pallets to be rolled back as far as possible, without the need for a forklift. Large cargo bay doors are installed to fit bigger items through and, in some examples, like the Boeing 747-400, the nose lifts up to allow particularly large items to pass down the body of the plane. With the demands of air freight ever increasing, aircraft with huge cargo capacities like the Airbus A300-600 Super Transporter (also known as the Beluga), are becoming the norm.
It’s not enough just to increase the size of the aircraft hold though. In order for a cargo plane to efficiently and safely transport its mighty load, a number of adaptations must be made to the overall avian design. For example, the wings and tail are built high to allow the freight to sit near the ground and to facilitate loading; the fuselage is much bigger; and – similar to heavy goods vehicles – cargo planes typically feature a larger number of wheels to support their weight on landing.
“The wings and tail are built high to allow the freight to sit near the ground and to facilitate loading”