Part 2 - The High Risk Job of a Military Charter Loadmaster

The High Risk Job of a Military Charter Loadmaster


This is a really good article and it touched a nerve with me, because I did this for a couple years.

First, I was part of the crew, but as the article stated and as I illustrated in my previous post, I had no protections as a crew member would.  As soon as we landed, I hit the road running.  However, I do have to say, Northwest Airlines did take great care of us and in no way ever took advantage of us nor did I ever feel abused.  BUT....yes, I slept on the plane in flight, ate junk, cleaned with baby wipes and all that other stuff.  Not until later, after we started burning out did we get authorization to rotate around to get a night in a hotel in either Ramstein or Incerlik.  I would never trade in my days as an NWA loadmaster!

We were met by our local Ground Service Coordinator, which was often a local vendor we contracted with to provide local liaison at the remote airfields we visited.  This began the work, reviewing the paperwork for the next flight, checking the load plans, planned haz mat, time line, etc.  At this point, it was a waiting game, depending on who all was in line ahead of us.

The on/off loads were interesting.  Generally we got a team of military airmen most between 18 and 20 years old, with very little experience.  I had to be in two places at once to supervise the entire load.  Occasionally an NCO or SNCO would pop in to check on them, but for the most part, I had to check and double check everything they did.

To begin with, the loaders the AF uses are not designed to fit with commercial freighters, so getting them to align to the door took an experienced driver and a keen eye on the loadmaster hanging out of the cargo door two stories up.  This was the greatest challenge of the day as the drivers were often "new".  Once we started, the next set of challenges hit the door, like, pallets would come in the door that were either wrong pallets, wrong weights, undeclared or improperly declared haz mat, poorly built/secured and I had to reject them or move them around in the load and coordinate with load planning.

Often the GSC was trying to learn the craft of being a load master, so he was often close at hand and very helpful.  We always had to check the lockdown of each and every pallet to ensure it was done right, pretty often I would find problems.  The problem is that military pallets and commercial freighters don't fit perfectly together, so you have to be very creative on loading to ensure total safety and legality.

Large roll on stock, requires a great deal of knowledge to load and my experience tells me that many of the "loadmasters" I encountered didn't really have that kind of experience.  I learned as an Embarkation Specialist (0431) in the Marine Corps, loading Helos and other Heavy Equipment or Motor T assets into military aircraft.  I loaded many C5s, C141s, C130s and even special ops Ch-53s with cargo.

Now, while all this is going on, you have to coordinate with the fuelers or even fuel the aircraft yourself, if there was no fuelers available, ensure catering is done, ensure all the paperwork is correct and the crews have been called out and picked up in time for an on-time departure.  It was generally an incredible hard and fast paced 2 or 3 hours followed up by a lot of sit around and wait.

So all this being said, imaging doing this after sleeping in a chair for say 10 out of the last 48 hours, eating crappy food and being in extreme weather conditions like 100 degree heat in the middle east after working in 20 degree weather on the east coast and 50 degree weather in Germany.  Toss in snow, rain or a massive dust storm and you have a fun time.

There is no room for error.  Mistakes in this job can have catastrophic results as the article points out, but to blame the loadmaster straight out is harsh as no one knows the circumstances surrounding the event.  However, no matter what, it is the loadmasters job to ensure that everything done to that plane is perfect, so the buck stops there.  The Loadmaster is the commander of that aircraft while it is on the ground until the release is signed by the Captain taking custody of the aircraft.

Loadmasters are a special breed or people who work absolutely insane hours in the most insane environments and they love it.  What we considered a good week, most nine to fivers would think was grounds for quitting.  Murphy's Law ruled the day and the word "easy" was looked on with skepticism.  But I wouldn't trade the experience in for the world.