Innovations help efficient loading of cargo aboard passenger planes
Pudong airport staff take a glide blanket on board.
Thanks to the newly invented "glide blanket," Pudong airport deputy manager Cao Guilong and his team managed to load cargo onto an Air Canada flight in two hours, half the time it normally takes.
More than 700 pieces of cargo, mainly coronavirus prevention supplies, were transported onto the Boeing 777-300 plane through the glide blanket — a soft blanket with wheels.
It has been designed for passenger aircraft that have been shifted to cargo service amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cao, deputy manager of the tarmac service center, and his colleagues placed the blanket in the aisles of the aircraft so that cargo could be pushed, rather than having to be lifted.
"The glide blanket has become an essential assistance to serve the increasing number of cargo flights conducted by passenger flights at the airport," said Cao.
It is one of a number of smart inventions on the tarmac at Pudong airport to service the increasing number of cargo flights.
Global airlines have been shifting their passenger flight services to cargo to transport COVID-19 prevention supplies amid a sharp decrease in international tourism.
Pudong airport handles dozens of cargo flights at present, an increase of about two flights daily from early March.
Passenger aircraft have the advantage of established crew and schedules, but also impose challenges for loading and unloading cargo, the Shanghai Airport Authority said.
All cargo must be lifted manually, because the mechanical equipment designed for freighters cannot be used for passenger planes.
As a result, the airport has tripled its personnel to load or unload the cargo for passenger aircraft.
Pudong airport staff load cargo using the glide blanket.
Pudong airport has more than 100 loaders, but still can hardly meet the demands under traditional methods, Cao said.
Amid the pandemic, the loaders must also wear protective gear such as masks, goggles and hazmat suits which makes work more difficult.
The team served flights from Alitalia and Garuda Indonesia, among the first batch of passenger aircraft with cargo transport tasks, in early March. All the loaders were exhausted at the end of their shift, Cao recalled.
If the loading or unloading had been delayed, the aircraft and foreign crews would have had to wait and their tight schedules would have been affected.
"The loader team then invented the glide blanket," he said.
In another move, his colleague Lu Bin, who is in charge of special vehicles at the airport, has worked out an innovative design to further relieve the hard work of loaders.
Lu combined towable stairways with luggage delivery belts to delivery cargo to the cabin doors of passenger planes. The loaders then deliver the cargo into the cabin with the help of the glide blanket.
To unload cargo more easily, the elevator for wheelchairs was used to unload cargo from passenger aircraft.
Many imported materials for the manufacture of hazmat suits were transported by passenger flights with Aeroflot-Russian Airlines. The fiber materials, 2 meters long and over 10 kilograms each, are delivered onto the wheelchair elevator to be unloaded from the cabin, according to Lu.
"The new transport method has saved half the labor and improved efficiency," Lu said.
A portable escalator belt is used to load cargo.
To ensure the flight safety of passenger planes transporting cargo, the airport authority has teams evaluating the loading balance of each flight.
Much coronavirus prevention equipment such as masks and hazmat suits are light but large. They must be balanced in the cabin to ensure flight safety.
Tang Feng, leader of the airport's balance evaluation team, checks and works out plans for each passenger flight operating cargo services.
In late April, cargo aboard a domestic airline's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was unbalanced. After calculation and negotiation with the carrier, Tang delivered multiple sand bags to correct the balance.
Despite these innovative ideas, ground service workers still have to work overtime in hazmat suit to finish the heavy tasks.
Temperature on the tarmac can reach up to 60 degrees Celsius in hot weather.
More than 200 cargo flights from across the world have taken off and landed at Pudong International Airport in recent weeks.
More than 10,000 tons of COVID-19 prevention material have been transported through Pudong airport since the outbreak of the pandemic.
A combination of towable stairways and the luggage delivery belts are used to load cargo onto passenger aircraft operating cargo services at Pudong airport.
Pudong airport staff load cargo into the cabin of a passenger aircraft with the glide blanket.
The traditional way to load cargo onto a passenger aircraft operating a cargo service at Pudong airport costs more time and labor force.
