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If you are interested in aviation jobs then it is worth spending considerable time doing some research on the qualifications and experience needed, the responsibilities, job supply and pay rates as there is a huge range in all of these aspects throughout the aviation industry. The article below describes primarily what a loadmaster does, as the description will give you a taste of what is actually involved and make a choice of career path easier.

Loadmasters are people who primarily work on military aircraft and might be employed by various national military organisations that use aircraft. These include the RAF in Britain, the RAAF and NZRAF in Australia and New Zealand as well as the US equivalents such as the USAF. The air force and coastguards of many other nations will use a similar person to do the same job.

The term loadmaster gives a hint to what the job entails. Loadmasters basically look after the amount of cargo and personnel – the ‘load’ that goes into a plane. They are responsible for making sure that there is no overloading and that the placement and method of containment ensures the stability of the aircraft in flight. They may also be responsible for ensuring that cargo that is to be released during flight e.g. Food drops or ammunition or parachutists are secured and positioned in such a way that they can be released safely at the correct position in the air without compromising the manoeuvrability of the plane or helicopter.

Loadmasters in some situations may have to do the physical loading of the aircraft themselves but much more commonly other air crew do the heaving and shoving with the aid of machinery such as forklifts while the loadmaster is basically in charge of supervising what these other personnel are doing.

The loadmaster’s job is quite critical as the ability of the plane to ascend, descend and turn depends on the balance of weight throughout its length. In particular a plane that has too much weight towards the front or back may be dangerously incapable of using its wings to perform a change in direction.

The term loadmaster was apparently originally coined by the Douglas Aircraft Company during and after the Second World War to define the job given to specific people with the responsibility for cargo loading and positioning and it is subsequent to the experiences in both the Second World War and the Korean War in the 1950′s that the actual career path for a loadmaster has been created. Earlier on, in the 1940′s, particularly during the early part of the Second World War there were numerous aircraft accidents caused by haphazard placing of cargo inside military aircraft used for transporting troops, air drops or both. Part of the problem was caused by loading far too much cargo while the cargo was often positioned badly for reasons given in the last paragraph.

The role of the loadmaster has been maintained in military organisations since the early years so there is certainly a clear career opportunity within one’s own air force although the demand for loadmasters is probably not on the increase. In addition to the military there is a smaller demand for loadmasters within the civil aviation industry as well. Loadmasters are used here wherever particularly large aircraft are used and /or the cargo being carried is of a complex nature. Air cargo companies that specialise in transporting large quantities of cargo will always be in need of loadmasters, for instance.