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Carrying cargo on passenger flights

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I've recently started using a program called ACLoader for calculating loads for the aircraft prior to flight.I've noticed that when I don't have a large number of passengers, it loads quite alot of cargo into the holds, as well as the passengers baggage.I was wondering if this was practiced in reality, and if so, what type of cargo would be loaded. Would it be the same type of stuff flown in dedicated cargo flights, or is it stuff specially kept for filling the space in the holds on a commercial flight?Thanks for any info provided.-Phil

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As far as I know, they carry mail and packages on passenger flights at times. If they can't fill certain flights to capacity on a regular basis, they will more then likely look to fill the baggage hold with other things to make the flight more profitable. I do know that I've seen passenger flights filled with USPS stuff on contract.----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach


John Morgan

 

"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

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Phil, Sometimes it's airfreight,human remains,US mail,and sometimes we even ship money fot rhe US mint.


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Human remains? Creepy. We could make a whole new horror flick with that idea. The undead punching up through the cabin floor mid-flight. Spooky. :-lol----------------------------------------------------------------John S. MorganReal World: KGEG, UND Aerospace Spokane Satillite, Private 130+ hrs.Virtual: MSFS 2004"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach


John Morgan

 

"There is a feeling about an airport that no other piece of ground can have. No matter what the name of the country on whose land it lies, an airport is a place you can see and touch that leads to a reality that can only be thought and felt." - The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story by Richard Bach

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KLM carries anything that fits and isn't actually prohibited on passenger flights (like dangerous chemicals and explosives).Of course a lot of it is often mail and spare parts (for example aircraft engines and avionics boxes to be airlifted to or from a maintenance facility).Typically you'd want to take as much as possible on a scheduled flight. Saves having to send another aircraft to the destination especially for the cargo.Of course there's always the risk that your cargo won't make it on a specific flight because passenger luggage has priority and the amount they'll bring cannot be predicted with certainty.Therefore perishables (fresh food, flowers, etc.) will usually be scheduled for a dedicated flight or if not given priority for loading.But quite often things have to be left behind and rescheduled for the next flight over.I did some work on building a new administration system for the cargo department of Garuda Indonesia's Amsterdam office.They took loads of cargo on their Amsterdam-Jakarta flights whenever possible. In fact they had so much cargo to transport they were thinking seriously of adding a dedicated freighter on the route (this was before the Asian economy toppled in 2003), because as it was they had to decline cargo or subcontract to other carriers like KLM and Singapore Air to fly some of the stuff for them.Human remains as said are also a regular cargo. In fact it happens so often that major airports have special departments for the handling of human remains. Coroners are on call to pack them for transport in metal coffins which are then welded shut and sealed with wax.I'm not quite sure of the numbers but from memory I recall Schiphol for example handles several cases a week on average.

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