What can and can’t fly on an airplane usually falls into one of three buckets: Is it hazardous, is it too heavy or is it too volumetric (oversized)? As far as hazardous goes, the IATA Dangerous Goods regulations set in stone what, how much, and whether or not cargo can be transported by air.
For weight or volume? Well, pick your airplane. From the smallest lifesaving package like an organ transplant that can travel in a private plane to the biggest, weightiest pieces moved by the likes of Antonov, there are plenty of ways to move cargo.
Sometimes, though, it starts with something as simple as, “Will it fit through the warehouse door?”
Well, airplane doors have a lot wider aperture than your typical dock door, and at MIC, when someone shows up at the front door with pieces that are too big, well, we just send them “around back.”
We handle cargo for airlines that operate 747, 767, 777, MD-11, and 787 aircraft, just to name a few types. For pieces too big for a dock door but not too large for one of those aircraft, MIC Cargo provides escort service and supervised unloading on our ramp planeside to prepare the shipment to travel.
A member of our team escorts the driver to a security checkpoint at the end of Patton Drive where their ID is checked and radioed in for approval because they’ll be driving on the airport grounds where planes are taxiing and near active runways where they are taking off.
Once cleared, we slowly escort them around the general aviation area, down the southern alley of Northeast Cargo past aircraft being worked by our parent company AGI and other ground handlers before stopping outside NE-8, our parking space.
Once on the ramp, we have access to a forklift that can lift and move loads up to 16,300 kilos, or 36,000 pounds.
Take this shipment we handled to Seoul. Two crates, 12,000 and 18,000 pounds respectively, arrived by slide-curtain truck. MIC escorted the vehicle and unloaded the crates.
The crates were then loaded on pallets (or ‘cookie sheets’) that are 20′ long and can each hold up to 13,500 kilograms. Following security screening and other pre-departure checks, the crates were loaded on two 747 freighters on consecutive nights.
Whether oversized crates, machinery or other specialized needs, think of MIC and our airline and forwarder customers and know that we are ready to handle your export air cargo needs.
