News » Vesti | 45 During the pandemic, our loadmasters have been an integral part of Air Serbia’s aircraft crew. They flew to distant destinations and ensured that each of our special flights was performed according to the highest standards of safety HEROES FROM THE SHADOWS DURING COVID 19 ASGS LOADMAST E RS IN REGULAR TRAFFIC AND UNDER REGULAR conditions, Loadmasters perform aircraft balancing tasks. Since there are certain schemes and time norms for each commercial flight that need to be met, because the flight safety of our aircraft depends directly on them, aircraft loadmasters control the service and are responsible for ensuring that each of our aircraft is loaded prior to take off in accordance with the propositions and characteristics of the aircraft. This practically means that they are responsible for safe planning and the supervision of aircraft cargo loading, transport and unloading. They prepare loading instructions and load lists of aircraft in accordance with all international standards and company requirements, in order for the aircraft to be safe and to take off within the permitted weight limits and balance. During the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the six balancers and their manager, who make up the Centralised Load Control (CLC) service at ASGS, had additional and very demanding tasks. They were on each of our special flights with flight and cabin crew. As a special escort on flights, they made sure that our planes flying with medical equipment and aid fromChina, South Korea, the USA and Russia, or equipment and aid shipped from Belgrade to Italy, were balanced and loaded as planned by the aircraft manufacturer. “Whether it was an A320 or A330 Air Serbia aircraft, when it comes to special work tasks under emergency conditions, as was the case on these cargo flights, you have much less time to prepare. The pressure that each of us felt was greater than under regular conditions. We had to take care to ensure that everything planned was loaded on the plane, and that the safety of the aircraft and personnel was not endangered at any time,” says aircraft loadmaster Marko Mitrović. They all spent a lot of time in the cabins of aircraft on numerous special flights, and in addition to all the other obligations and tasks already mentioned, the loadmasters also encountered the possibility of Coronavirus infection. On these special working trips, these professionals lived and experienced some interesting situations. According to our colleague Mitrović, each flight was a challenge in itself. “Six hours after the first COVID-19 test that we performed after landing in Hohhot, we were told that it was possible that two members of our crewwere infected with Coronavirus. After the test was repeated and after 19 hours spent aboard the plane, it turned out that the positive test was a mistake. At the moment they told us that, all of us on our plane - from the captain, first officer and cabin crewmembers, to myself as the loadmaster - felt great relief.” Morali smo da vodimo računa o tome da sve što je planirano bude utovareno u avion, a da bezbednost vazduhoplova i osoblja ni u jednom trenutku ne bude ugrožena, kaže Marko Mitrović, balanser vazduhoplova / We had to take care to ensure that everything planned was loaded on the plane, and that the safety of the aircraft and personnel was not endangered at any time,” says aircraft loadmaster Marko Mitrović Pritisak koji je osećao svako od njih bio je veći nego u redovnim uslovima The pressure that each of them felt was greater than under regular conditions
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