747 FREIGHTER

This is a 747 freighter and the deck is 16 feet above ground. So it obviously requires equipment to load it, but it also requires equipment like this to get up even to fuel the airplane and it requires another ladder for the crew to get in. All of that has to be there, available. Those are the things that aren't required in military aircraft.

Here is another loader. This is the type that is used to load bulk cargo. This is a self-propelled device and fairly large and not something that you will find in smaller airfields obviously.

To load heavier items, and this is a two and one-half ton truck, you then have to have a winch device that hoists the truck up 16 feet and then pushes it into the cargo area.

In contrast, a military airplane, this is a C-5, typical of that design, has a high wing and a low floor. Entry for the crew for refueling is all done at ground level. This floor is just truck bed height and it also has a ramp that lowers.

Vehicles can drive on and drive off and it can be loaded both from the front and the rear. Obviously that facilitates both loading and unloading.