What are flight attendants doing on a cargo flight?

Reporter : Luo Shuai / http://www.minhangshi.com/m/h5/detail/8965427 / Direct translation

"What? Are you going to fly cargo plane? Have you been assigned to move cargo due to poor performance recently?"

"Wow, can the cargo plane take a rest? It's easy, right? Envy!"

"There are still flight attendants on the cargo plane?"

...

Facing the problems of family and friends, Luo Shuai was a little bit dumbfounded.

Luo Shuai, a flight attendant in the cabin branch of Sichuan Airlines Yunnan Branch, called himself "cargo brother" because he was flying a cargo flight recently. Many people around him are curious about this "special type of work". Today, he will introduce to everyone what the flight attendants on a cargo flight do--

Our Sichuan Airlines flight department has a "Cargo Lala" captain, and the cabin department also has a "Cargo Brother". The Yunnan branch has a "passenger-to-cargo" A321 aircraft, mainly flying to India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and other places. Each cargo flight is equipped with two flight attendants, and the cabin branch of the branch selects 14 male flight attendants to perform freighter duties in rotation.

There are no passengers on the plane, which seems to be relaxing, but in fact, it also requires strong business knowledge and meticulous and patient work attitude.

The pre-flight preparation and take-off preparation the day before the flight will be essential. After getting on the plane, we were greeted by emergency equipment inspections: oxygen cylinders, flashlights, PBE (protective breathing masks)...they are all useful at critical moments. With tons of cargo placed in the passenger cabin, fire prevention has become the top priority. For this reason, the maintenance brother specially equipped the freighter with backup fire extinguishing equipment.

Since there are no passengers, a certain amount of ballast will be placed in order to ensure a balanced loading. After checking the emergency equipment, we need to check the ballast and cooperate with the customs to complete the on-board verification before the closing door.

After taking off, check the cabin once every half an hour, touch the cargo tethering rope, check the cargo status... and serve the flight crew well, and every job should not be sloppy.

Picture : Luo Shuai is checking the cargo tether before the flight takes off

After the plane landed, it was necessary to cooperate with the arrival country's epidemic prevention personnel to complete the elimination of the materials in the cabin, and then carry out the killing of the freight workers on the plane. In short, as long as someone gets on the plane, they have to kill. After the killing is completed, the cargo transshipment is completed, the documents are handed over, the captain is reported to the captain, and the hatch is closed, the task of "Cargo Brother" is considered complete.

The same goes for the return journey. There are a lot of cabin disinfection, foreign object inspection, and pesticide spraying. Only after the new round of preparations are ready can they take off and return to the embrace of the motherland.

Picture : "Brother Freight" disinfects freight workers on the machine

The hot and humid climate in Southeast Asia, coupled with wearing airtight protective clothing and shoe covers, wearing goggles and masks, are often soaking wet. We all laughed and said it was a "midnight sauna." It’s too much to fly, and everyone has come up with some tips, such as applying hand sanitizer to the goggles before the flight and wiping them with alcohol wipes three minutes later to prevent the goggles from fogging.

These cargo routes are all "red-eye flights", so we always fly at night and rest during the day. Although the company of family members and the gathering with friends are less, we have no hesitation in fighting the epidemic and developing the company.