The busiest parts of the summer are already over, and things have quietened down into a more acceptable pace.
I had always planned to do a short post about some of the paperwork involved with each flight from my side of the operation, but now seems the perfect time since Kent Wein has just made a posting about it here; Cockpit Chronicles: Paper makes an airplane fly and Captain Dave's quote at the minute is Donald Douglas,' "When the weight of the paper equals the weight of the airplane, only then can you go flying."
There are various bits of paperwork I have to complete before each flight can depart, some are for my company's use, some are for the airlines' uses and others are legally required documents for each flight. A lot of this is printed on dot matrix printers and telex rolls.
Let's start by talking about the movies, you know the ones involving aviation and it pains you to watch because of the absurdity of it all. Anyway, how many times have you noticed the cabin manager/purser consult the passenger manifest looking for a doctor onboard, or a pilot, of a marshall etc? In my experience, I have never seen any passenger manfiest give anything more than a passengers name, sex and seat allocation and maybe some other supplementary information if they have a medical condition or vegetarian etc. I have never seen anything relating to their occupation or qualifactions. Yet.
When everyone is checked in for a flight, the passenger manfiest or list is printed out, usually on two or three ply carbonated paper. I generally retain one copy to keep with my paperwork,and the rest is handed to the cabin manager for their information and is also possibly required at the destination depending on customs and immigration.
With a widebody flight and maybe 300 passengers, this list can end up being around 5 to 6ft in length so its always a challenge trying to fold up it up into some sort of tidy format that the crew can make sense of. Though imagine trying to do this outside in the wind and rain when you're in a rush, and it quickly becomes a ball of mushy paper.
I've previously talked about the loading of aircraft and how they have to be loaded in specific ways to ensure they remain within safe operating limits. We get this information from a Loading Instruction, another piece of paper specific to each flight that tells us where to load the bags and cargo on each aircraft. It's one of the legally required documents, and has to be signed by the loading agent and kept to, and any deviations from it have to be noted.
This leads onto the next piece of legally required paperwork that the pilots require, detailing the weight and balance of the aircraft. It contains information about the weight of the cargo and bags, hows it's distributed in the holds together with a breakdown of the passengers' weight and distribution, and the aircrafts' operating weights and how it trims. The captain of the aicraft has to sign a copy of it to accept it, and a copy is retained on the ground in our records. Different airlines call this piece different names, and each have their own variation on what's required depending on the aircraft type.
Other pieces of paperwork I have to fill out relate to the bags and cargo being carried onboard the aircraft, and that it has been screened and accepted for carriage according to government regulations and then the airlines' regulations. I also have paperwork that has to filled out during the turnaround that later helps determine what caused the delay if any.
The crew will also pass me pieces of paperwork that they are required to complete, such as security forms, crew names or customs paperwork for incoming cargo or passengers. All of it has to be kept and compiled together to be kept on record for a length of time that escapes me right now, but generally it lies undisturbed for many many months in dark bunkers...
Showing posts with label loading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loading. Show all posts
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Dispatcher vs Dispatcher
No no, it's not a post on me competing with my colleagues. After my last post Wayne asked about the road to becoming a dispatcher. There seems to be a lot of Americans and Canadians reading, and since I'm from Europe I should make clear that I am not a dispatcher in the sense you may be thinking.
In Europe, or at least in my country, the term dispatcher is also used for a member of the ground crew who is tasked with oordinator the turn-around. I am a ramp dispatcher, also known as a turn-around coordinator, team leader or dispatch agent. There's probably more titles that I haven't come across and a few rude nicknames I don't want to come across. I'm sure I've been referred to use as 'Useless' some days.
In N.America, my understanding is that when people refer to a Dispatcher, they are commonly referring to the Flight Dispatcher, a person who prepares the legal documents for a flight and tracks it throughout its journey. Any readers of Flightlevel390 who are familiar with Capt Dave referring to 'mother' e-mailing them, he's referring to the dispatcher. These dispatchers are FAA licenced who have undergone much studying. I'm not sure of the exams they sit but they do have to go through certified courses to get there, and know much more about the technical aspect and legalities involved in a flight from A to B. My job involves looking after the aircraft on the ground at A, or indeed B. They'll be trying to get it to the destination as safely and efficiently as possibly, minimising delays, helping to flight plan it to avoid nasty weather, and providing the crew with the documents they need such as as the flight plan, weather information, and anything else. As far as I know they work in darkened rooms deep in underground bunkers...or in airline headquarters or operations department.
I have nothing to do that more formal paperwork side of the flight. The only aircraft documents I do deal with are those related to any charges for ground handling, aircraft weight and balance and passenger manifests. My job is managing the turnaround aircraft side, working directly with the crew and my colleagues to get the airlines' passengers from check-in to an on time departure. I oversee loading, make sure things are happening as they should, the crew have what they need for the flight,
My own training involved aviation weather, aircraft loading and principles of flight, turnaround management, load sheets, specific airline policies for ground handling, security and requirements, headset responsibilities, hand signals. I don't have to be licenced in the same way FAA dispatchers are, but I do have some legal responsibilities regarding the flight and its safety. I sit exams but the majority are set by my own company and a few airlines I work with, rather than an aviation governing body.
dpierce asked about split destination flights and how the bags are loaded.
Generally, if it's loose loaded, i.e. the bags are not contained in metal bins, we'll try and keep the bags for different destinations in different holds. If I have a flight going from A to B and onto C, I'll try and keep bags being offloaded at B in one hold, and bags for destination C in another hold.
The holds are separated by nets that we attach to points in the hold, that prevent the cargo and bags from sliding during flight.
If the bags have to be mixed to keep the aircraft in trim, unfortunately the ramp guys at the other side will just have to check them as the bags are offloaded. In most cases, it isn't too much hassle as the label attached at check-in will have the destination in large lettering so it can be identified and offloaded without having to check long tag numbers on each bag. If the flight is bin loaded, it's easier and we'll put bags for each destination in different bins so they can be offloaded at each destination.
In Europe, or at least in my country, the term dispatcher is also used for a member of the ground crew who is tasked with oordinator the turn-around. I am a ramp dispatcher, also known as a turn-around coordinator, team leader or dispatch agent. There's probably more titles that I haven't come across and a few rude nicknames I don't want to come across. I'm sure I've been referred to use as 'Useless
In N.America, my understanding is that when people refer to a Dispatcher, they are commonly referring to the Flight Dispatcher, a person who prepares the legal documents for a flight and tracks it throughout its journey. Any readers of Flightlevel390 who are familiar with Capt Dave referring to 'mother' e-mailing them, he's referring to the dispatcher. These dispatchers are FAA licenced who have undergone much studying. I'm not sure of the exams they sit but they do have to go through certified courses to get there, and know much more about the technical aspect and legalities involved in a flight from A to B. My job involves looking after the aircraft on the ground at A, or indeed B. They'll be trying to get it to the destination as safely and efficiently as possibly, minimising delays, helping to flight plan it to avoid nasty weather, and providing the crew with the documents they need such as as the flight plan, weather information, and anything else. As far as I know they work in darkened rooms deep in underground bunkers...or in airline headquarters or operations department.
I have nothing to do that more formal paperwork side of the flight. The only aircraft documents I do deal with are those related to any charges for ground handling, aircraft weight and balance and passenger manifests. My job is managing the turnaround aircraft side, working directly with the crew and my colleagues to get the airlines' passengers from check-in to an on time departure. I oversee loading, make sure things are happening as they should, the crew have what they need for the flight,
My own training involved aviation weather, aircraft loading and principles of flight, turnaround management, load sheets, specific airline policies for ground handling, security and requirements, headset responsibilities, hand signals. I don't have to be licenced in the same way FAA dispatchers are, but I do have some legal responsibilities regarding the flight and its safety. I sit exams but the majority are set by my own company and a few airlines I work with, rather than an aviation governing body.
dpierce asked about split destination flights and how the bags are loaded.
Generally, if it's loose loaded, i.e. the bags are not contained in metal bins, we'll try and keep the bags for different destinations in different holds. If I have a flight going from A to B and onto C, I'll try and keep bags being offloaded at B in one hold, and bags for destination C in another hold.
The holds are separated by nets that we attach to points in the hold, that prevent the cargo and bags from sliding during flight.
If the bags have to be mixed to keep the aircraft in trim, unfortunately the ramp guys at the other side will just have to check them as the bags are offloaded. In most cases, it isn't too much hassle as the label attached at check-in will have the destination in large lettering so it can be identified and offloaded without having to check long tag numbers on each bag. If the flight is bin loaded, it's easier and we'll put bags for each destination in different bins so they can be offloaded at each destination.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Heavy Play
Following on from my last post, Aviatrix has published two interesting posts about weight and balance on Cockpit Conversation http://airplanepilot.blogspot.com . Have a look at those if you want to know a bit more.
In my company, we do get wide body aircraft on a regular basis during the peak season. During the off-peak season we're in now, they are few and far between but we still get the odd ad-hoc charter passing through our hands. I had the luck of the draw recently for an A330 passing through us, destined for shores more exotic than my own.
The flight was a split-load with another airport, and positioned into us with passengers and cargo already on board going to the same destination. They remain on board the aircraft as my passengers join them and we load the holds with more bags and top up the fuel.
The basics of loading a wide body are much the same as the smaller aircraft I discussed in my last post, in trying to balance the weight to get an ideal trim. But sometimes with wide body aircraft it can get a bit more complicated. On this particular A330, there are belly holds at the front and rear of the aircraft. Some versions of it also make use of the area between the wings.
The flight is bin loaded, meaning that all the suitcases are in aluminium containers called Unit Load Devices (ULDs). They come in various shapes and sizes to fit aircraft holds. For example, on A330s we can use AKE and ALF type bins, but on 767s we have to use DPE and DQF bits. The dimensions and shapes are different to allow them to fit snugly in the hold of each aircraft without wasting space.
We're using AKEs and ALFs to load this flight. ALFs are large containers that span across the belly hold from left to right, where as AKEs are half the size and you can fit two side by side in the aircraft. We load and count the bags into these bins, and then work out the gross weight of each.
I have a plan view of the aircraft's holds, depicting the different locations we can load the ULDs or cargo pallets. The diagram is marked with squares labelled 11L, 11R, 12L 12R, 13R etC. The first number is the hold number, and the second number is the row number for the ULD, followed by L or R for which side of the aircraft. Eg 13R is Hold 1, row 3, on the right side of the aircraft. We can fit 1 AKE in this position, or 1 ALF positioned across 13L and 13R. Cargo pallets are bigger yet again than ALFs and have their own divisions that span across the hold and over 2 rows. Their divisions are labelled 11P, 12P etc.
The aircraft arrives at my airport carrying carrying bins and cargo pallets from it's first departure airport. The handling company there has placed all their cargo and ULDs in the rear holds, and taken up all the available positions leaving me only the front hold to place my outbound ULDs. The ramp guys have managed to fit all our bags into 3 AKEs and 1 ALF, and I also need to load some empty AKEs that are to travel to the destination at the request of the airline's ULD Stock Control people.
A quick count reveals there are 14 AKE positions in the front holds, or can be used as 3 pallet positions and 2 AKE positions. The rear hold has room for 2 pallets or 6 AKEs. I plan to put the ALF at the rear of the front hold, nearest the wings, with the loaded AKEs in front of this, followed by the empty AKEs. Today it's easy enough, but on the return flight with the split load it could get more difficult. Generally if an aircraft has two destinations, the handling company at the departure airport will load it so the first destination cargo and bags can be offloaded without moving the remaining the cargo for destination 2. Sometimes, it's not always possible though as it results in the aircraft being too tail heavy, so we would need to remove ULDs and pallets to get access to our ULDs, and then reload the bins and pallets for the next destination.
On the other hand, if we are able to remove our ULDs without moving anything else, the result might be the aircraft is out of trim now and so we need to move the remaining weight anyway. It's good practice to try and plan it so it works out easily for the ramp guys the other end. For you can be sure if we make it difficult for them, they can end up doing the same for us when the aircraft returns! With so much to consider, it's easy to get caught up in the loading of the aircraft alone and forget about the other things that need done.
Upstairs, the first of 186 passengers are already boarding and taking their seats for a long 9 1/2 hour flight ahead of them. I'm used to working with smaller aircraft so much that it still surprises me a little when I step on board and notice the size of them inside and galleys big enough to put restaurant kitchens to shame.
Fuelling is taking place, the crew have requested 68,000kg of jet fuel. That's a lot, and still makes me go 'Whoaa' when I think about it. A fuel truck is parked under the wing pumping fuel in, and another truck is waiting behind it. I can see the drivers are bored sitting watching the gauge tick over, gallon after gallon. It takes a long time to uplift 68,000kg of fuel.
Once the positions of each bin is decided, loading is speedy and finished well ahead of the scheduled time of departure. It's a good day, all my passengers turn up and board on time too so all I have to do is wait for fuelling to finish before we can go.
Fuelling finally finishes and paperwork complete, I say goodbye to the crew and let them close up. I do my walk around feeling like a little kid in a big playground. I'm looking for anything unusual like I discussed in my Walk Around post, but I'm also in awe of the size of the aircraft. The main deck sits well higher than any other aircraft I deal with, the wing span is massive and I can see the wings drooping under the weight of the fuel. We begin the push back and the tug struggles a little at first. Pushing 204,000kg of aircraft takes a bit of grunt, especially on the slight incline we have. The engines start up and I get a nice whiff of jet fuel as I hear that resonant hum.
Push complete, we disconnect the equipment and I wish the crew a good journey. I have to walk a few miles away before I can even make eye contact with them and show them the pin because they're sitting so high they're almost in orbit.
A few minutes later, I hear the engines spool up and it starts to accelerate down the runway. The engines make a fantastic snarling sound of a roar that makes the hairs on your neck stand up. It speeds past me, I see the wings load up and a few seconds later the nose lift gently off the runway. The main gear lifts off and assumes its usual angled position before being raised, and off into the cloud it climbs gracefully...
In my company, we do get wide body aircraft on a regular basis during the peak season. During the off-peak season we're in now, they are few and far between but we still get the odd ad-hoc charter passing through our hands. I had the luck of the draw recently for an A330 passing through us, destined for shores more exotic than my own.
The flight was a split-load with another airport, and positioned into us with passengers and cargo already on board going to the same destination. They remain on board the aircraft as my passengers join them and we load the holds with more bags and top up the fuel.
The basics of loading a wide body are much the same as the smaller aircraft I discussed in my last post, in trying to balance the weight to get an ideal trim. But sometimes with wide body aircraft it can get a bit more complicated. On this particular A330, there are belly holds at the front and rear of the aircraft. Some versions of it also make use of the area between the wings.
The flight is bin loaded, meaning that all the suitcases are in aluminium containers called Unit Load Devices (ULDs). They come in various shapes and sizes to fit aircraft holds. For example, on A330s we can use AKE and ALF type bins, but on 767s we have to use DPE and DQF bits. The dimensions and shapes are different to allow them to fit snugly in the hold of each aircraft without wasting space.
We're using AKEs and ALFs to load this flight. ALFs are large containers that span across the belly hold from left to right, where as AKEs are half the size and you can fit two side by side in the aircraft. We load and count the bags into these bins, and then work out the gross weight of each.
I have a plan view of the aircraft's holds, depicting the different locations we can load the ULDs or cargo pallets. The diagram is marked with squares labelled 11L, 11R, 12L 12R, 13R etC. The first number is the hold number, and the second number is the row number for the ULD, followed by L or R for which side of the aircraft. Eg 13R is Hold 1, row 3, on the right side of the aircraft. We can fit 1 AKE in this position, or 1 ALF positioned across 13L and 13R. Cargo pallets are bigger yet again than ALFs and have their own divisions that span across the hold and over 2 rows. Their divisions are labelled 11P, 12P etc.
The aircraft arrives at my airport carrying carrying bins and cargo pallets from it's first departure airport. The handling company there has placed all their cargo and ULDs in the rear holds, and taken up all the available positions leaving me only the front hold to place my outbound ULDs. The ramp guys have managed to fit all our bags into 3 AKEs and 1 ALF, and I also need to load some empty AKEs that are to travel to the destination at the request of the airline's ULD Stock Control people.
A quick count reveals there are 14 AKE positions in the front holds, or can be used as 3 pallet positions and 2 AKE positions. The rear hold has room for 2 pallets or 6 AKEs. I plan to put the ALF at the rear of the front hold, nearest the wings, with the loaded AKEs in front of this, followed by the empty AKEs. Today it's easy enough, but on the return flight with the split load it could get more difficult. Generally if an aircraft has two destinations, the handling company at the departure airport will load it so the first destination cargo and bags can be offloaded without moving the remaining the cargo for destination 2. Sometimes, it's not always possible though as it results in the aircraft being too tail heavy, so we would need to remove ULDs and pallets to get access to our ULDs, and then reload the bins and pallets for the next destination.
On the other hand, if we are able to remove our ULDs without moving anything else, the result might be the aircraft is out of trim now and so we need to move the remaining weight anyway. It's good practice to try and plan it so it works out easily for the ramp guys the other end. For you can be sure if we make it difficult for them, they can end up doing the same for us when the aircraft returns! With so much to consider, it's easy to get caught up in the loading of the aircraft alone and forget about the other things that need done.
Upstairs, the first of 186 passengers are already boarding and taking their seats for a long 9 1/2 hour flight ahead of them. I'm used to working with smaller aircraft so much that it still surprises me a little when I step on board and notice the size of them inside and galleys big enough to put restaurant kitchens to shame.
Fuelling is taking place, the crew have requested 68,000kg of jet fuel. That's a lot, and still makes me go 'Whoaa' when I think about it. A fuel truck is parked under the wing pumping fuel in, and another truck is waiting behind it. I can see the drivers are bored sitting watching the gauge tick over, gallon after gallon. It takes a long time to uplift 68,000kg of fuel.
Once the positions of each bin is decided, loading is speedy and finished well ahead of the scheduled time of departure. It's a good day, all my passengers turn up and board on time too so all I have to do is wait for fuelling to finish before we can go.
Fuelling finally finishes and paperwork complete, I say goodbye to the crew and let them close up. I do my walk around feeling like a little kid in a big playground. I'm looking for anything unusual like I discussed in my Walk Around post, but I'm also in awe of the size of the aircraft. The main deck sits well higher than any other aircraft I deal with, the wing span is massive and I can see the wings drooping under the weight of the fuel. We begin the push back and the tug struggles a little at first. Pushing 204,000kg of aircraft takes a bit of grunt, especially on the slight incline we have. The engines start up and I get a nice whiff of jet fuel as I hear that resonant hum.
Push complete, we disconnect the equipment and I wish the crew a good journey. I have to walk a few miles away before I can even make eye contact with them and show them the pin because they're sitting so high they're almost in orbit.
A few minutes later, I hear the engines spool up and it starts to accelerate down the runway. The engines make a fantastic snarling sound of a roar that makes the hairs on your neck stand up. It speeds past me, I see the wings load up and a few seconds later the nose lift gently off the runway. The main gear lifts off and assumes its usual angled position before being raised, and off into the cloud it climbs gracefully...
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Standard Loading
I had started to write a post about a recent wide body jet I had to deal with in work and about the loading of cargo and bags on it, then realised I better start with an explanation into loading of smaller aircraft.
So you've all seen the ramp guys chucking/throwing/pass the parcel-ing/delicately placing the suitcases into the belly of the aircraft, but have you ever considered it in anymore thought than that? Unless your an aircraft buff/engineer/physicist etc then I hope not but here's a short explanation into what happens.
For example, one of our flights with an A320, with 180 people onboard and nearly all of them having suitcases checked in will result in around 180 bags. At an average of 15kg per bag, those 180 bags amount to 2700kg. That means we have 2700kg of bags to place in the belly holds and that need to be distributed so that the aircraft not only remains in balance, but go one step further and make sure it's distributed to give an aft Centre of Gravity and help reduce fuel burn. Most of the flights I deal with are all lose loaded, the bags are loaded on individually and aren't contained in the big metal bins or Unit Load Devices (ULDs) you'll see on some of the larger aircraft.
On the A320s I work with, there are holds both fore and aft of the wings. The front hold is numbered 1, there is no number 2 hold for reasons beyond me, and then hold 3 and 4 are located aft of the wing. There is also a smaller hold 5 at the tail of the aircraft which we rarely (have to) use. The aircraft in question, without passengers and bags is pretty well balanced, not too nose heavy or tail heavy, so the obvious answer would be to split the bags between the front and back equally. Almost, but that's pretty much what we do.
The standard way we load a full A320 is by putting 1/3 of the bags in H1, 1/3 in H3 and the other 1/3 in H4. So 60 bags each in 1, 3 and 4 resulting in 900kg in each hold. This holds true for when the aircraft isn't full as well, with lighter passenger loads we can still split the bags up into 1/3s among the holds providing the passengers are distributed equally throughout the cabin. 99 times out of 100, this method works fine and if we're feeling adventurous and have the time, we'll co-ordinate with the flight crew to try and refine it to an even more suitable arrangement producing a more ideal CoG.
A321s I don't have a lot of experience with and so I can't tell you off hand the way we usually load them, but we do have to be a bit more careful. The longer fuselage means any weight in H4 or H5 has more of an effect in making the aircraft tail heavy. If you're not careful enough and place too much weight in H3/H4 without any in H2, you'll very quickly find the tail making it's way to the ground and have endless paperwork to fill in as the flight crew berate you, to put it lightly.
For 737s, it varies depending on which series. On the older -300s and -400s, we're generally load around 100-120 bags in H3 and anymore in the front in H2. On the larger -800s, we'll usually fit around 140 bags in hold 3 aft of the wings, and the remaining 30-40 in the forward holds.
For 757s, the numbers are bigger yet again with around 180 bags in the rear split between holds 3 and 4, and then the rest in H2.
Some particular aircraft have their specific quirks about them. For example some aircraft are particularly nose heavy or tail heavy due to modifications, such as those that operate dual role and have a cargo door in the side of the fuselage. We'll always load and unload the aircraft in such a way as to minimise the possibility of it tipping while on the ground, meaning we'll generally load weight in the front first, and start offloading the weight from the rear on arrival. I've had captains call me overly cautious about my order of loading. However, that's easy for them to say, they won't be the one taking responsibility for it if it ends up nose up while sitting on stand.
Anything bigger than these such as 767s, A300s and A330s are in my experience all bin loaded and so get a bit more complicated. At least now the next time you see the ramp guys place some bags in a hold and then moving to the back/front hold before the other is full, you'll have an idea why. Now I can get on with finishing my wide body post...
So you've all seen the ramp guys chucking/throwing/pass the parcel-ing/delicately placing the suitcases into the belly of the aircraft, but have you ever considered it in anymore thought than that? Unless your an aircraft buff/engineer/physicist etc then I hope not but here's a short explanation into what happens.
For example, one of our flights with an A320, with 180 people onboard and nearly all of them having suitcases checked in will result in around 180 bags. At an average of 15kg per bag, those 180 bags amount to 2700kg. That means we have 2700kg of bags to place in the belly holds and that need to be distributed so that the aircraft not only remains in balance, but go one step further and make sure it's distributed to give an aft Centre of Gravity and help reduce fuel burn. Most of the flights I deal with are all lose loaded, the bags are loaded on individually and aren't contained in the big metal bins or Unit Load Devices (ULDs) you'll see on some of the larger aircraft.
On the A320s I work with, there are holds both fore and aft of the wings. The front hold is numbered 1, there is no number 2 hold for reasons beyond me, and then hold 3 and 4 are located aft of the wing. There is also a smaller hold 5 at the tail of the aircraft which we rarely (have to) use. The aircraft in question, without passengers and bags is pretty well balanced, not too nose heavy or tail heavy, so the obvious answer would be to split the bags between the front and back equally. Almost, but that's pretty much what we do.
The standard way we load a full A320 is by putting 1/3 of the bags in H1, 1/3 in H3 and the other 1/3 in H4. So 60 bags each in 1, 3 and 4 resulting in 900kg in each hold. This holds true for when the aircraft isn't full as well, with lighter passenger loads we can still split the bags up into 1/3s among the holds providing the passengers are distributed equally throughout the cabin. 99 times out of 100, this method works fine and if we're feeling adventurous and have the time, we'll co-ordinate with the flight crew to try and refine it to an even more suitable arrangement producing a more ideal CoG.
A321s I don't have a lot of experience with and so I can't tell you off hand the way we usually load them, but we do have to be a bit more careful. The longer fuselage means any weight in H4 or H5 has more of an effect in making the aircraft tail heavy. If you're not careful enough and place too much weight in H3/H4 without any in H2, you'll very quickly find the tail making it's way to the ground and have endless paperwork to fill in as the flight crew berate you, to put it lightly.
For 737s, it varies depending on which series. On the older -300s and -400s, we're generally load around 100-120 bags in H3 and anymore in the front in H2. On the larger -800s, we'll usually fit around 140 bags in hold 3 aft of the wings, and the remaining 30-40 in the forward holds.
For 757s, the numbers are bigger yet again with around 180 bags in the rear split between holds 3 and 4, and then the rest in H2.
Some particular aircraft have their specific quirks about them. For example some aircraft are particularly nose heavy or tail heavy due to modifications, such as those that operate dual role and have a cargo door in the side of the fuselage. We'll always load and unload the aircraft in such a way as to minimise the possibility of it tipping while on the ground, meaning we'll generally load weight in the front first, and start offloading the weight from the rear on arrival. I've had captains call me overly cautious about my order of loading. However, that's easy for them to say, they won't be the one taking responsibility for it if it ends up nose up while sitting on stand.
Anything bigger than these such as 767s, A300s and A330s are in my experience all bin loaded and so get a bit more complicated. At least now the next time you see the ramp guys place some bags in a hold and then moving to the back/front hold before the other is full, you'll have an idea why. Now I can get on with finishing my wide body post...
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