Not a maritime incident, but it MAY have relevance to maritime situations:
Any of the aviation buff on the forum have an explanation?
Any of the aviation buff on the forum have an explanation?
1 Like
Ive seen this before. they unloaded the front of the plane first and there is no tail stand. it is SOP to use a tail stand for dedicated Cargo service aircraft. as you move the aircraft pallets through the door and slide them aft.
the load master should have figured this out
3 Likes
Found these two article by using Google Lens:
It appears to confirm your explanation, and why boarding of pax starts from the front, not back as would be logical from a “crowd control” standpoint.
Here is (presumably) a description of the actual incident in the picture (second incident):
I’m not sure that which way the passengers board & de-board is a factor, as while every airliner I’ve been on boards from front to back, they also de-board from front to back - if you are in the last row, you’re the last one off 
Maybe that’s why they hook that heavy towbar up front right away?
From my experience; on disembarking everybody at the back rows move as far forward as possible as soon as there are room to move.
I.e. as the front rows empties the pax in the back rows push forward, thus the CG stays safely in front of the undercarriage.
More of a problem may be baggage and cargo, if the cargo door is fwrd. (as shown in pix)
From this drawing it appears to be two cargo/baggage doors on the B-737 800:
Likewise on the A-320s:
Trimming by the stern? ;-). No problem.
Some swear to trimming by the bow to save fuel (or whatever)
I’m not sure if that make sense for all types of ships:
I think it’s more of an aircraft model dependent deal. I fly Alaska Air regularly and they primarily operate 737’s. Every 737 of their’s will have a tail stand in place while they’re at the gate.
I’ve seen that to be the norm in Europe, as soon as the seat belt light is off there is a chaotic crush towards the front exits. But that generally is not on US domestic flights where there is a semi-orderly exit by rows, no one moves forward before the row in front.
2 Likes
Maybe that is why this kind of incidents happen mainly in America?
If all the pax at the back wait patiently for the front pax to disembark, while the baggage handlers remove luggage from the front first.
Maybe there is a good reason why Alaska Air insist on having a tail stand in place before switching off the seatbelt sign.
PS> I have flown domestic in places like Argentina, India, Indonesia, Nigeria etc.
Frequently pax jump up to grab their luggage as soon as the wheels hits the ground.
I have never experienced the front wheel lifting off the ground, though.
1 Like
That happens in the US. What doesn’t happen is the guy from row 87 racing forward to be the first off the plane. How foolish of me, I thought that guy was just a rude inconsiderate asshole, I had no ideas he had my safety in mind.
9 Likes
He probably don’t have the foggiest idea about weight distribution requirements on aircrafts.
That is probably true for 99.9% of air passengers.
We (ground crew) almost did that back in the day unloading a plane. Three of us hung on the nose gear yelling at the other two to hurry up and throw some shit back in the forward hold.
It can just be comical, but depending on how hard the plane lands it can also do damage.
- always unload the aft hold first!!!
Reverse for airplanes. The more you load aft the faster you go, but you hit a point where the plane is dangerously out of CG range and becomes unstable.
We actually proved that one night on a long flight, we got all the loose shit we could find and shoved it all the way aft. We picked up enough speed to notice, maybe 3-4 knots or so. I had to get it all back where it came from to land though.
1 Like
Its freight weight not passenger weight that causes the issue
Exactly.
So all this “boarding by groups”, starting with the front rows first, is just BS than?
It has been implemented by all major airlines now AFAIK.
Yes
Is “Yes” in reply to the first sentence of my post, or a confirmation of the second sentence?
Or just a random confirmation of something said by somebody earlier?
For ages Southwest Airlines had no assigned seats at all and none of them stood on the tail that I was on.
The logical way to board is window, center, and then aisle but no one does that.