The weekend was short due to work and the start of this week is no different. The only difference was the environment. On my drive to work it was really foggy and it took a bit longer to get there. You really could only see a few feet in front of you. No worries I left early enough to not be late. Today's blog will be about my morning work processing cargo for upcoming airlift.
I snapped these photos at about 7:50 just ahead of our 8:00 cargo processing start. Now it was still foggy but not near as bad as it was driving into work. We don't have a lot of cargo to process this morning, just 3 aircraft containers. A lot of the cargo you see in the one picture is inbound cargo from missions this weekend. I have to say the different environment with the foggy conditions made for a better work environment.It was just a pleasant scenery to witness.
Working alongside my military counterparts there is one saying that holds strong most of the time. That is hurry up and wait. Well we didn't have to wait too long but didn't get started until 8:15. Once the first container made it to the scale it only took 30 minutes to finish weighing everything.
Its not a difficult process. We get the weights, make adjustments on documentation and do a quick look at the exterior of the container to ensure its airworthy. This includes looking at the aluminum skin underneath the containers. This is done to ensure it fits and won't have any issues on the aircraft's roller system.
Next up in the process is inspecting every aspect of the cargo. The fog has cleared by now, but it's pretty humid now outside. The inspection is done with the inspector(s) and the unit representative(s) of the cargo. For all pallets and containers we have to open every box,container or case. We look for undeclared hazardous materials, explosives and contraband items. Also we due our part for agriculture too. Some countries are really strict on it. We are the last line of defense to ensure safety of flight for all the passengers and crew members.
We did find some lithium ion batteries in a piece of equipment. The unit decided to not ship it rather than preparing a Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods. Over the years, you would be surprised what some units try to sneak. I'll just say some of the Armed Forces services are notorious for it, haha.
It can be a long process going through everything. You have to a keen eye and a basic understanding of what your looking at. These three containers basically contained nothing more than spare aircraft parts. It took us about an hour with three inspectors. In the near future we have a mission that contains 14 pallets and that process will take most of the day. Once were done we put on seals and document the seal numbers. This ensures we know that no one has added anything to thier kits. Otherwise if we didn't it would be a lot of work for no purpose. Keeping sterility is important for not only passengers but cargo too.
Afterwards it was time to do the aircraft load plan, cargo manifest and breakdown the paperwork into packages. Three separate packages: one for our station files, one for the troop commander and the last for the aircraft commander. Not too much work for three containers, we were done as far as we could be by 10:15.
Now the only left to do is process the passengers, build a baggage pallet and load the aircraft. This will all be done when the aircraft arrives. Sometimes this is the more fun and less time consuming tasks.
I spent the rest of the day turning over inbound cargo to customers and putting away nets, dunnage, straps and pallets. A productive day to say the least and it's only Monday. A few busy days ahead but there will be some slower ones as well.
Take care, stay safe and enjoy the rest of the week. Until next time!