Until 2007, transport of the bodies of military KIA's was handled on the scheduled flights of commercial airliners. To what extent were any special arangements made such as pax announcements to honor the fallen, or off-loading the remains before human luggage?

The policy changed so that chartered jets now usually carry these bodies. Congress approved the change as a result of some claims of disrepectful mishandling by baggage/freight personnel at some airports. Allegedly, caskets were loaded onto baggage carts stocked with golf clubs, skis, and other passenger checked items. Forklifts were said to be sometimes used to move remains without regard to the contents. To what extent was this true at destination airports around the country?

I'd be interested to hear the best that was done for these vets, as well as the shortcomings of how it sometimes actually happened.

 

pilots would have little knowledge to this, your trolling up the wrong tree for the article food.

We dont go down into the cargo areas of the airport, and only see bags loaded during pre flight walk arounds, which is only momentarily.

 

Can't speak to any shortcomings, but I have seen an entire ramp at a standstill before when remains were off loaded. All of the employees nearby essentially had a moment of silence and stillness out of respect.

If you've never seen the HBO drama/movie 'Taking Chance' with Kevin Bacon, it offers some insight into the process of returning fallen soldiers.

 

It is always sad to see it, but Delta has a glass enclosed cart for transport of the casket with the quote " All gave some, some gave all" .... Sad to see when it passes.

 

Go troll elsewhere for you newspaper/magazine article.
The info you have is incorrect and what I do know I will not share in public.

 

Not necessarily true. I have a friend who's a pilot at a Major airline who knew he was transportating a fallen Marine. He reported of a very respectful ceremony that occured when off-loading the casket.

 

Not sure where you get that it ended in 2007, because it hasn't.

Like the other poster said, here at DAL, in ATL, there is a crew called the "honor guard" that uses a dedicated tug and cart train that has been specially painted and is maintained immaculately. They perform a small ceremony when handling our soldiers with a flag guard wearing vests adorned with various military patches. The cockpit crew will often go down during the loading and unloading to stand at attention by the belt loader. One of the more impressive things I've seen here and am very proud of those guys. Some outstations, particularly ones near prominent military bases, have a similar setup. (RDU & ORF) come to mind.

I would imagine that other airlines have something similar.

 

And I'd be interested in hearing your motive for such information. Slow day at the news desk? You getting the inside scoop on the airlines' dirty little secret?

All I've seen in my 21 years of airline experience is nothing but the utmost respect for fallen servicemen. From pilots to ground crew to gate agents to even passengers.

Write a story about that, and leave your allegations and innuendo elsewhere. This is a forum for pilots.

 

Smells bad. Thread closed.