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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1344.PDF
FLIGHT July \Uh. TQ46 Handling Air Cargoes Saving Time on the Qround is the Basic Requirement : Some of the Problems Involved . Special Equipment By N. D. RYDER A VERY important phase ot the business of transporting goods by air is the actual handling of ailcargoes—the job of getting them into and out of the aircraft, the stowage, and the anchorage during flight. The cargo-handling problem, like many others, is necessarily approached with the fact in mind that speed is the first consideration. This was stressed in an article byM. B. Crawford, chief equipment engineer for United Air- lines, in the April issue of our associate journal, MechanicalHandling: "Time is what we are selling," is how he put it, and this saving ot time on the ground is the controllingfactor in designing containers which can be moved easily and quickly, and such equipment as belt loaders, cranes,chutes, and other impedimenta with which to move them. Variety in the design and dimensions of aircraft add tothe complexity, and the problems are apt to be further complicated from the time-saving angle in the case of aircraft which carry both freight and passengers because there is generally less elbow room in which to handle the cargothan in an out-and-out freighter, while at the same time the passenger (who is also paying for speed) resents being • Obviously, then, aircraft designed trom the start primarily for cargo work present fewer handling problems than such otherwise excellent types as the DC-3 which was evolved with passenger-carrying foremost in view. It is now generally agreed that the maximum ease ot handling goods is provided by a high-wing type permitting a low loading platform with front or rear doors such as the Miles Aerovan, Bristol Freighter or Fairchild Packet A tricycle undercar riage is an added advantage in that it results in a level floor when at rest, though the Freighter's Boor, with conventional undercarriage, has a slope ot only a few de- grees, which should oSer no handicap in practice. Such types are always fitted with entrances of maximum size, and often have some kind of built- in ramp which can be delayed on the ground while items of freight arebeing handled. Imagine, for example, the business man who hasbooked a passage from A to B. The aircraft puts down at an intermediate point, and passengers join-ing or leaving her here will keep her on the ground for, perhaps, five minutes. If, however, this periodis increased to, say, 20 minutes in order to unload one or more bulky and heavy items of cargo and takeon, stow, and secure other freight, then the passenger will probably feel that he is not getting the fullbenefit of the extra speed for which he has paid. This, ot course, is not only an argument in favourof special equipment for quick cargo handling; it is an even stronger argument in favour of all-passengerand all-freight aircraft, especially over comparatively short distances.
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