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The weight and balance calculations are done before every flight by the "load" house in our headquarters in Dallas. As the baggage is checked in by passengers it gets weighted and put into cargo bins. The load house knows the specifics of the cargo we are carrying. It all gets put into a computer and a load plan is produced that lets the baggage loaders know where each bin and piece of cargo needs to go in Th belly. When I first saw the car they were loading it in the aft baggage door, but had to take it out and put it into the forward section, so there was probably some change from the original plan. The 777 has a fairly wide CG envelope so loading can be flexible. In the old days on a 727 I remember a few times getting a message from loads just prior to push back that we had to move some passengers around inside the plane to have the correct takeoff CG. Some people got free upgrades to first class out of that.
Pete
Pete, Very interesting. Thanks for the explanation.
The weight and balance calculations are done before every flight by the "load" house in our headquarters in Dallas. As the baggage is checked in by passengers it gets weighted and put into cargo bins. The load house knows the specifics of the cargo we are carrying. It all gets put into a computer and a load plan is produced that lets the baggage loaders know where each bin and piece of cargp needs to go in th belly. When I first saw the car they were loading it in the aft baggage door, but had to take it out and put it into the forward section, so there was probaly some change from the original plan. The 777 has a fairly wide CG envelope so loading can be flexible. In the old days on a 727 I remember a few times getting a message from loads just prior to pushback that we had to move some passengers around inside the plane to have the correct takeoff CG. Some people got free upgrades to first class out of that.
Pete
This one time, when I was still at DSS, we were taking care of a very very senior official (big recognizable name) of a major foreign power while he was in the US. For some logistical reasons, fo a trip from SFO-IAD, we flew him commercial, big plane, easy-to-protect first class, etc. He was not announced & was not on the reservation list. So there are a medium sized crew of us--all heavily armed in business suits--on board with him as the cargo was just finishing being loaded in SFO. Suddenly our outside spotters **** a brick on the radio, saying there were a bunch of heavily armed men, not wearing suits, driving towards the plane at a high rate of speed in two unmarked cargo vans. Well, you can imagine the response from us....until about a minute later when we finally heard from the flight deck that a very high value cargo was being transported on the plane as well, on behalf of the treasury of another foreign government, and these guys were its escort. Needless to say, we could have used better liaison from "them".
Interesting in that last head on picture.
It looks like the driver is off to the right a little. I wonder why...
If I remember correctly, the ALMS rules state that even the LMP1 and LMP2 cars have to be somewhat "street" cars in that they have to have 2 front seats. Take a look at the Sypder RS or the R10... the drivers are also offset, because they have a passenger seat. Might not be all that big, but it's there.