The massive shipment took 12 aircraft positions and required the dedicated attention of a full team of outsize specialists including our dedicated Ground Engineering department as well as loadmasters, crane operators, truck drivers, handling agent LuxairCARGO in Luxembourg, and handling agent Asiana at destination in Seoul.

After three hours of crane-supported loading and consequent strapping, flight CV7965 took off at 3:00 pm local time and landed at destination at 8:20 am local time on 13th September, after a 10h20’ non-stop flight. ‘Carrying heavy, dense cargo in closed packages such as containers or crates requires extraordinary efforts to ensure safe on-aircraft tie-down in forward, aft, left, right and up direction, as we can only secure the outer package and have no influence on what happens to the content when exposed to dynamic accelerations’, said Okan Akpinar, Country Manager Switzerland.

While it would have been easier for us to lash the rotor directly, we were happy to accommodate the customer’s preference for flying this huge shipment as one single piece, including the lid of the rotor. Together with the customer we were able to assess an adequate form-fit and force-fit securing inside the container, with the lashing applied to specifically designed tie-down lugs at dedicated, reinforced outside locations.

‘Cargolux uses a self-develop IT application to plan and calculate the correct loading and tie-down of heavy shipments. The application takes into consideration all strap angles and the resulting aircraft attachment point capabilities to ensure a safe tie-down in full compliance to the applicable Boeing B747 freighter weight and balance manual’, Akpinar added.

It has been confirmed that everything went fine both ends. Forwarding agent Panalpina expressed their full satisfaction.

Cargolux has a long history of transporting outsize and heavy shipments. Over the years, the airline has managed to position itself as an outsize specialist, in addition to its day to day consolidation business. Cargolux’s freighters can carry heavy weights like this 48-tonne-rotor, provided the aircraft floor limits can be met. Pieces exceeding a length of 20 meters are also regularly accommodated aboard Cargolux’s planes.

Other heavy cargo transported by Cargolux includes flight simulators, aircraft engines, mill wheels, escalators for shopping malls, heavy machinery, vehicles, oil drilling equipment, rotors, helicopters, satellites, ship spares and entire trucks, to name but a few.