Weatherwatcher1 wrote:It’s been common practice for years to either use nose gear straps or tail stands when loading freighters. The idea of installing a tail wheel that Ilyishin designed is ridiculous in my opinion (....)
Does the A321 have significant enough weight and balance concerns to need a nose gear strap? I haven’t seen them used on 757 as often as on the widebodies. They are more commonly used on widebodies like 747s and MD11s
Saying it's common practice only holds truth if you apply a very narrow view. The most common is, in fact, to use standard procedures and enforce them strictly.
Using a nose-tether has it's own particular set of risks, namely the potential for rather dramatic nose-gear damages if the ground crews become complacent.
I worked for 15 years in ground safety with one of the big integrators, operating anything from Caravans over the entire Boeing freighter range, A300s and the MD-11. We never used nose-tether on any type, only used tail-stands of the pogo type on a select few types (727-100, DC-8 and CV-580) and we never sat anything on its tail. The purpose of a nose-tether and tail-stand is not to alleviate load; they're a last resort in case something goes bad. Trick is, as mentioned in the beginning, to have well trained staff following strict procedures, and ensure those procedures are regularly enforced and audited.
My knowledge of the A321 is limited, but they tend to be a bit on the nose-heavy side. Considering the P2F has two full positions forward of the cargo door (which will always be loaded first and off-loaded last), it seems to be a very ground-stable aircraft indeed. The 757 has one position forward of the door, and is forgiving of quite large loading sequence breaches. The 767 and 777 are even better; the latter is all but impossible to tail-tip (aft hold full, all positions aft of the CG on the main-deck full, still won't tip unless you've got wing-tanks full and centre tank empty). The 747 is only susceptible if using the nose-door and making a mockery of loading/unloading sequence, whereas the MD-11 will sit on it's arse with ease; the dry index of a MD-11F is in the 95ish range and it'll tip at index 100. There are only two MD-11F operators in the world who haven't tipped one, and neither of them have ever used a nose-tether.
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/news/en/2020/10/first-a321p2f-enters-into-service-with-qantas.html
