Are you familiar with this terminology: lower deck, upper deck, pallets, containers? These terms are used daily in the air transportation industry. To help put this information into layman's terms, we will break it down into categories.

Loaded pallets & containers are weighed because a plane must be loaded in a sequence which maintains it's balance in flight.

Loading devices are commonly referred to as a containers or pallets. Cargo is loaded into containers and onto pallets and these devices are then secured by plastic, netting and straps to ensure the shipment is secure. Cargo that is loaded this way moves more securely and smoothly than cargo that is bulk loaded or loose loaded. It also utilizes the space on the aircraft in an efficient manner.

There are various types of loading devices but the most common containers are LD-1, LD-2, LD-3 these types of containers are completely enclosed and are made of aluminum or fiberglass. For identification purposes, the container numbers are noted on the sides of the units.

The pallets are also made of aluminum but look like a very large cookie
sheet. The dimensions are usually 96 x 125 inches or 244 x 317 cms. The pallets are identified by numbers located on the corner of the device.

These devices or units can then be placed in the aircraft in an upper deck or lower deck position. Upper deck and lower deck refer to the areas on the aircraft that can stow shipments with these specific type units (containers/pallets).

Keep in mind, that different type aircraft will have different height and width restrictions. For example, a MD11 freighter aircraft has a maximum height of 96 inches or 244 cm verses a 747 freighter has a nose load of 98 inches or 249 cm, in the instance of a side door loader a maximum height restriction of 120 inches or 305 cm.

This covers a wide range from large wide body aircrafts to utility aircrafts. For our purposes, we will be talking about wide body aircraft as these types of planes accommodate the pallet and container loading devices we use for our cargo. What constitutes a wide body aircraft you may ask? It is an aircraft having a fuselage diameter greater than 200 inches (5.08 meters.)

Some of the commonly used wide body aircraft are: Airbus 300, 330,340,
DC10, Boeing 767, 777, 747 and the MD11. All of these aircraft have a lower deck loading ability and the maximum door height of 64 inches or 162 cm. Please note that when you ship on a passenger and cargo aircraft, the lower deck height restriction will be 64 inches or 162 cm.

This information only represents a small sample of the aircraft and container types available for shipping air cargo. If you have any questions concerning aircraft types, loading devices or upper/lower deck requirements, please please contact your local ICEFAT shipping
agent.