JET PASSENGER/FREIGHT SERVICE BY T.C.A. DC-8F
On March 2, T.C.A. carried the first-ever mixed cabin load of freight and passengers across the North Atlantic on a scheduled jet flight. F. G. SWANBOROUGH reports here on the operation and describes the equipment used
TRANS-CANADA AIR LINES has invested more than $100,000 in freight-handling equipment for its new DC-8F "combination" service between London and Montreal. Whilst accepting the need to palletize cabin freight loads, the airline has chosen to use stock items – fork-lift trucks and flat-bed trucks – to move and load the pallets, rather than commit large sums to a specialized system.
In demonstrations at London Airport last week, handlers, who had first seen the aircraft less than 48 hours before, loaded four pallets, holding 15,000 lb of freight, in 10 minutes, door open to door closed. Two pallets were unloaded in 3½ minutes from the door being opened.
First service
T.C.A. flew its first service with a Douglas DC-8F out of London on March 2, and this was the first revenue operation of a mixed passenger-freight jet aircraft anywhere in the world. Two services a week are being operated initially on the London-Prestwick-Montreal route; pallets will, however…
