Cargo Planes facts

While investigating facts about Cargo Planes Military and Cargo Planes Air Force, I found out little known, but curios details like:

A FedEx pilot inverted a cargo jet pinning a hijacker to the ceiling of the plane, performing maneuvers beyond all known capabilities to land safely

how cargo planes work?

FedEx uses several empty cargo planes that roam the country's skies overnight in circuitous flight paths, ready to divert on demand in order to accommodate unexpected package volume.

What cargo planes does the air force fly?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what do cargo planes carry. Here are 50 of the best facts about Cargo Planes For Lease and Cargo Planes Usaf I managed to collect.

why do cargo planes fly at night?

A Russian cargo plane was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistian with six crew members aboard. After being held captive in Kandahar for over a year, the crewmen were able to overpower their captors, retake their plane and fly it out of Afghanistan to safety.
A US cargo plane crashed while moving children from Vietnam. American businessman Robert Macauley heard that it would take over a week to evacuate the survivors, so he chartered a Boeing 747 and arranged for 300 orphaned children to leave the country, paying for the trip by mortgaging his house.
In 1994, a disgruntled FedEx employee tried to hijack and crash a cargo flight, using hammers and a spear gun. Despite serious injuries during the attack, the pilot and crew were able to land the plane. The pilot flew the DC-10 upside down at times in an attempt to stop the hijacker
About Airstan Incident, In 1995 the Taliban used their MiG fighter jet to force a Russian IL-76 cargo plane to land at Kandahar Air Field. After a year of captivity, the crew tricked the Taliban into performing a routine maintenance on the plane, and then flew away, under fire, to the UAE.
Disgruntled FedEx employee tried to hijack and crash a cargo flight, armed with hammers and a spear gun. Despite serious injuries during the attack, the pilot and crew were able to land the plane. The pilot flew the plane upside down several times in an attempt to stop the hijacker.
There are tribes called 'Cargo Cults', who worshipped planes during WW2, believing they were gifts from the gods, and they built their own small airstrips and phoney planes to attract them. Some tribes still exist today.
In 2003, a cargo plane in Iraq was struck by a missile in mid-air, lost complete control of the aircraft, but managed to become the first aircraft in history to land successfully using only varying engine power to steer... only to land in a minefield.
The cargo hold of the largest plane in service, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, is longer than the first flight taken by the Wright brothers.
A Nuclear Weapons Accident that occurred on March 10, 1956. A B-47 Stratojet carrying two plutonium cores was lost over the Mediterranean. Despite an extensive search, the plane and it's cargo was not located and it's fate remains unknown today.
In 1992 an Israeli cargo plane crashed in Amsterdam killing 43 people. Israel claimed it was carrying flowers and perfume. It took 6yrs and a Dutch parliamentary inquiry before they admitted it was carrying DMMP, a key component for sarin nerve gas.

cargo planes facts — What are cargo planes?

Why do cargo planes fly at night?

You can easily fact check why do cargo airlines use older planes by examining the linked well-known sources.

In WWII the captain of a US cargo plane shot and killed a Japanese fighter pilot with only his Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) that was shoved through the cabin window.

On February 15, 1961 a plane crash killed the entire US figure skating team and everyone else on board, but a dog in the cargo hold survived. - source

The Isareli airline El Al has an onboard anti-aircraft missile system equipped in their planes. They are the only airline that places its cargo in a decompression chamber before take-off. - source

In 1995 the Taliban hijacked a Russian cargo airplane and after a year in captivity the crew stole their plane back and flew it freedom.

FedEx keeps approximately 5 empty cargo planes flying over the U.S. every night to allow for rapid responses to changing demand and unserviceable aircraft on existing services. - source

When do cargo planes fly?

The only large jet plane to disappear without a trace besides the Malaysian flight 370 was a cargo plane loaded with valuable art works

How many cargo planes does amazon have?

In 2003, an Airbus A300 cargo plane landed safely in Baghdad despite being struck by a missile on the left wing, losing a fuel tank, and losing all hydraulic control surfaces, forcing the pilots to guide the plane to an airport using only engine thrust to steer the plane.

A tribe in Vanuatu still practices the belief that cargo planes from WWII are a form of deity and will one day return with cargo, and their leader John Frum, a WWII serviceman.

The iconic hump of the 747 exists because Boeing assumed supersonic planes would make the 747 obsolete for passengers. The raised flight deck allows for a large front cargo door.

In 1988 a cargo plane was trying to deliver much needed medical supplies to hurricane victims of Honduras, but the tarmac was filled with unsolicited and unneeded donations so the plane was turned away. 60% of items donated after a disaster can't be used.

Airstream camper trailers are also used to transport american officials in the back of cargo planes

When were cargo planes invented?

The Texas City Disaster, a mishandled 1947 cargo ship fire that ignited 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate, causing a massive explosion, and killing 581 people. The explosion broke windows 40 miles away, blew 2 planes out of the sky, and caused a 15 foot tidal wave.

In 2015, a Singapore Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing because its cargo of farting sheep set off the smoke alarm.

UPS provided charter passenger service in the late 1990s. They would install passenger interiors in five of their cargo aircraft each Friday, then fly to/from tropical destinations during the weekend, and convert the planes back to cargo by Monday afternoon.

Besides food, the cargo planes brought clothing, heating supplies, and other living essentials to the stranded Germans.

There exists a ground effect aircraft known as an Ekranoplan called the "Caspian Sea Monster". It can hold 50% more cargo and travels 300 mph while burning only 50% of the fuel of a conventional cargo plane.

How cold does a planes cargo hold get?

A plane en route from Australia to Malaysia with a cargo of 2186 sheep had to make an emergency landing in Bali when excess gas from the animals set off smoke indicators.

About the "Super Guppy", a class of plane used by organizations such as NASA to transport oversized cargo. It looks like a whale with wings and its predecessor was named the "Pregnant Guppy"

When a cargo plane crashed over a small WV town in 1979 it spilled 12 tons of marijuana making some inhabitants "happy"

The crew of a Russian cargo plane once stole a cow for a food source for the flight. Mid-flight, the cow panicked, and caused stability issues for the plane. The crew threw the cow out of the plane where it hit a Japanese fishing vessel.

A cargo plane delay prevented the 2016 Northern Alberta Lobster Festival from being able to serve any lobster. Guests were given hot dogs to eat instead.

A casket containing a body once fell out of a plane while being transported, when the cargo door suddenly blew off.

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, a Japanese ace figher pilot in WWII, recorded 36 aerial victories before seeing a premonition of his own death. He volunteered to participate in a kamikaze mission, was refused, and died as a passenger on a cargo plane the next day.

In 1974 the USAF fired a minuteman ICBM from a Galaxy cargo plane. The missile parachuted down to lower altitude before firing its rocket engines for launch.

The distinctive hump on the Boeing 747 was placed there because it was assumed they'd soon only be used as cargo planes with flip-up noses once the Concorde supersonic liner took over all passenger routes.

The Super Guppy cargo plane (large enough to deliver 2 T-38s / 26 tons) still flies. Nasa got it on barter and rents it out.

A C-5 Galaxy, the US military's largest cargo plane, gets 0.07 mpg, or just over 14 gallons per mile.

In 1971 a cargo door on an AA DC-10 blew out over Ontario, jamming some of the control cables, but the plane landed intact. The cargo door failed the exact same way on Turkish Flight 981 in 1974. The crash killed 346.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Cargo Planes. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Cargo Planes so important!