Packing Materials

There are many ways to protect the goods you send via the Big Box Haulers. My advice after casual observation, is to pack things as if they are going to get broke, but that is a whole other post. The focus of this post is the materials that people use to package their items and how they apply to me and my job.

Paper/News Paper

I don’t see much of this type of packing material. Mainly because the packages that have paper as the main packing material don’t bust open inside my aircraft. This is one of my favorite PM’s. As a receiver of such goods packed in paper, it can be mildly messy. Just because of the sheer volume of paper that is usually used to protect the contents. It also has the tendency to fill trash receptacles rather quickly. Boxes using paper as the main PM are usually lighter than most and may have a bulging appearance.

Ghost Poop/Foam Peanuts

If I ever meet the guy that invented this stuff, I’m gonna choke the living crap out of him. I usually see this type of PM falling out of boxes that are heavy. I have no idea why. People seem to pack objects such as pipe couplings, pump motors, bowling balls, and other heavy dense objects, usually with sharp corners and add peanuts as an afterthought, just to occupy space inside the box. By the time these boxes reach me at planeside, they usually have holes or tears in them. Each time they are handled about 3 cups of the PM puffs out of the FOD generating holes. They are most often seen tumbling along in herds, with the wind, racing towards the air carrier ramp. I wonder how much ghost poop would have to be ingested by a 737 or A320 before it wrecks an engine. The other place that they are commonly seen is on the floor of my SUV. I looks as if a ghost crapped all over in the back of the plane. I swear the damn things breed in flight. I either have to sweep or vacuum out the aircraft in order to dispose of them. They are nasty to get in a package as well. Extremely hard to dispose of, they occupy large volumes of trash receptacle volume, stick to you hands and arms, and run from a statically charged broom.

Air Bags

I don’t know what else to call them. Little plastic pouches filled with air.(Click Video Link) How ingenious!! Easy to handle, I never see them, not messy, simply poke with a box cutter or scissors and they go flat, making disposal a breeze. They were my absolute favorite until Thursday…

I had just departed Big Town, on my regular route. I had leveled out at 12,000, finished up the cruise checklist and began to do the weight and balance. Otto was at the helm as I furiously and intensely plugged numbers into the calculator, and diligently wrote them on the manifest. That is when it happened. I heard, over the ANR headset and the drone of the engines, a muffled POP! It was even strong enough to make the seat jolt slightly! I quickly discarded the manifest and calculator, shut Otto off and took the helm myself. A quick check of the engine instruments and a glance outside to the engines revealed nothing out of the ordinary. As far as I could tell there were no noxious fumes or smoke in the cabin. After a few minutes of intense sniffing, looking, and checking I came to the conclusion that I had either hit a B-1RD or some freight had shifted in the back of the aircraft. The rest of the flight was uneventful.

When I landed in The Dive, the driver and I unloaded the last of the boxes off the SUV. The second to last box located directly behind my seat, against the cargo net, I noticed, was open. It was as if it were forcefully opened along the top seam. The box and the packing tape were both torn. Curious, I peered inside to examine the contents of the said box. And what, you ask, did I find? A box filled with my little air bag friends….

Near as I can tell, the climb to 12,000, in an unpressurized aircraft, caused these little buggers to expand. The plastic, unable to contain the air trapped inside, gave way and exploded much like a balloon would if you filled it too far. The resulting ‘explosion’ ripped open the top of the box and sent a little concussion wave to the back of my seat through the cargo net, causing my two minutes of panic.

Lesson learned.

Note to self: Airbags may go off in flight.