[Paleo Conservative]

It doesn't mention where the cargo doors are for the over sized payload, does the noes open like a C-5 or the tail open like pedal doors, or both?

It's in the tail. The cargo section is separated from the nose of the aircraft just behind the passenger door by a newly desingned pressure bulkhead. It is impossible to get into the unpressurized cargo section from the nose section, because there will be no door there. The tail section will swing open to allow specially designed loaders load and unload cargo from the LCF. The hinges which are being designed in Spain will carry and protect all the cables and hydraulic hoses necessary to control the control surfaces and flight data recorders in the tail. This will enable quicker loading and unloading than was possible with the Super Guppies formerly used by Airbus. Those aircraft which were modified C-97's required disconnecting all flight controls before opening the nose of the plane and reconnecting them before taking off.

[Paleo Conservative]

[Gandalf_The_Gray]

The tail section will swing open to allow specially designed loaders load and unload cargo from the LCF.

That loader sure looks a lot like the one that JetWay of Ogden Utah was designing for the 747F. The whole thing used servo loops to slave the loader to the motion of the plane as ISO containers were loaded through the nose. (A 30,000 lb container will cause the plane to drop from it's unloaded attitude and crosswinds will cause it to yaw. The first trip up to the plane would have an operator riding along w/ an electronics package which was clipped to the fuselage inside the door. The package contained inertial sensors to activate the servos. On the trip down the system memorized the location of the door, after that loading was like pushing buttons in an elevator. I don't know what ever happened to the project as I interviewed and they weren't in the mood to pay what I was asking. A couple of months later they called and asked if I was still available but by then I was out of the market.

Regards,
GtG

[phantomworker]

Interesting. So that's how it works. A picture is worth a 1000 words. Thanks!