Turkish Cargo A330F

Special Valentine Delivery on Turkish Cargo A330F

Sam Chui·February 14, 2021

A330 Cargo Trip Report Trip Report Special Flights Turkish Airlines

I recently travelled on a Turkish Cargo A330-200 Freighter flight, from Istanbul to London Stansted and back, to experience the cargo operation first hand.

Inside the belly space of the cargo plane were 64,000kg of fresh flowers for a Valentine's Day delivery. The flowers came from Kenya and were in transit at Istanbul. The flight provided some great insights into the transportation of perishable cargo and, in general, the cargo operation process as a whole.

Video

a white airplane on a runway — Turkish Cargo A330-200F

a large airplane on the tarmac — Turkish Cargo A330-200F

boxes wrapped in red rope — Full 64,000 kgs of cargo over 31 cargo positions on A330-200F

a cardboard box with red rope tied around it — Full 64,000 kgs of cargo over 31 cargo positions on A330-200F

On the flight deck Captain Ferihan took charge during a low visibility take-off, as the weather was very foggy at Istanbul. We experienced some heavy turbulence during the climb out of the bad weather. Watch the video for a perspective of the action from the cockpit.

a man and woman in a plane — Captain Ferihan and F/O Namik operating Turkish Cargo A330F flight. The crew are inter-changeable to A330 passenger planes.

a receipt on a laptop — Weather Enroute to London Stansted

a man standing in a room with fire extinguishers — There was also a loadmaster onboard; Omar looking after the cabin and cargo.

a room with chairs and cabinets — The A330-200F has 4 seats and a galley in between.

Breakfast was catered for on the outbound. Not entirely surprising, it was actually the usual Turkish Airlines Business Class breakfast (pre-covid). The difference on the cargo flight is that you can serve yourself and decide when to eat, without having to be concerned about the other passengers.

a man sitting in a chair with a tray of food

There is also a crew rest directly behind the cockpit. I took a nap after breakfast. A cargo plane is not a shabby way to travel. You literally have your own "The Residence" inside!

a man lying on a bed with a mask on his face

When we arrived in Stansted Airport. It was a race against time to offload the fresh flowers. Those flowers would go straight to the market from the warehouse, all on the same day. All 64,000kg of cargo were offloaded in just 30 minutes, then another full load of cargo was ready and waiting to get on the flight.

a plane with pallets of pallets on a runway

a close up of a panel — The switch to open and close cargo door on A330-200F

a large stack of boxes tied with red tape

men wearing safety vests and standing on a cargo plane

a long tunnel with wheels on the track — The entire main deck (22 cargo pallets) were offloaded in less than an hour.

a man wearing a mask and standing in a tunnel

A snowstorm was approaching and bringing with it gusty wind conditions. The ground operation team had to quickly upload the cargo before the storm arrived.

One cargo pellet was built slightly too high and couldn’t enter the plane, due to the contours of the A330 fuselage. So the operation team had to fix the problem on the spot, to avoid creating any delays. The video shows the intricacies of the cargo operation, it also shows the importance of the air cargo industry to deliver the world’s supplies during the pandemic.

a man wearing a safety vest and a mask standing next to a large bag of cargo

a paper with a diagram — Loadsheet for plane balance

We flew back to Istanbul Ataturk airport in 3 hours and 10 mins, including a beautiful approach over the city of Istanbul at night.

a cockpit of a plane with lights and people in the cockpit

To me, the air cargo industry has always been the underdog in aviation. Many have underestimated the importance and contribution of cargo logistics to the global trade, up until the current pandemic that is. It is the cargo industry keeps the supply lines moving while we’re staying safe at home. Clearly, this pandemic has highlighted the importance of cargo logistics to keep the world moving.

The air cargo industry is always responding to rapidly changing situations or crises. I call it “Crisis Management”. It is all about problem-solving to meet end user needs and deliver on-time.