Manufacturers/designers of all aircraft equipped with a pallet/container capability have provided a means of linking the ground loaders/elevators with the aircraft sill for the smoother transfer of pallets and containers into or out of the aircraft holds.
Use of the aircraft attachment points may be used as a means of averting damage to the aircraft door frames and other important parts. Latch-on guarantees fore and aft and vertical alignment of the loader bed with the aircraft doorway, when used in conjunction with the appropriate ground equipment.
This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) has been prepared by SAE Subcommittee AGE-2A to present a review of the current range of aircraft attachment points on wide body aircraft and those narrow body aircraft with a ULD cargo capability. Airline operators, who utilized these facilities, have been faced with a growing number of adaptor bars necessary to suit each type of aircraft and door position. There is also a stowage problem on the elevator compounded by the increasing number of bars necessary to suit each aircraft. Some measure of standardization is obviously desirable.
The adapter bars which have to be fitted to the forward face of the elevators to suit each different type of sill attachment are very heavy and present some handling problems to operators.
Where the same elevator services different aircraft types, these bars may have to be changed many times each day on the ramp.
Alternatively, elevators have to be restricted to servicing specific aircraft types or to those aircraft where a common attachment point already exists.