Hey guys I searched but couldnt find anything relevant about this.

I was wondering how you would go about becoming a loadie on a C-130 or C-17? I know that in the army the best route to aircrew is by entering as a groundcrewman but what is the equivalent for the RAAF?
I would assume a movements operator or something similar?

Any replies would be appreciated thanks.

Loadmaster is an in-service position and as such you cannot apply through direct entry.

while you are correct many of loadmaster's stem from eithe ther movements and supply mustering, however a lot also come from a wide range of musterings.

Thanks Blue,
How long do you have to be in service for before you can apply to transfer into the position? And what kind of testing do you have to go through to get it?

I would recommend going in a Movements mate, most of the Loadies I have met have come from the movements because its a similar trade. As a Movements operator you'll get to work with the loadies on daily basis and will become very familiar with thair role.

As for time in service I have no idea, I will attempt to find out for you.

I know they are all SGT's at least.

I cannot remember the in-service time I would assume and again I am not sure but it would probably be at the end of your ROSO.

And yes all Loadies are SGT and above and are plastic SGT's on course.

The benefits of a movements background is unquestionable, what would normally happen in a typical load;

Lets say a Fighter SQN is going overseas for an exercise, the movements guys will go down a bit in advance and to a recce to understand what will be taken and if their is anything that maybe difficult to transfer (eg. spare engine or strange parts).

All the pre-packing and accounts of the load the SQN is sending should be done by the log SECT at the fighter SQN, however you will normally see the movements guys heavily involved due to Dangerous Goods (DG) checks etc. then the movements guys go back and do a load plan... they have the full details of the transport aircraft used and allocate a pallet to a spot on the plan (taking into account things such as; DG - some cant be placed near others in-flight, and pers etc.)

After which the movements guys will load the gear onto the pallets in advance of the aircraft arriving.

In most cases the movements section will get a hold of the load master before the flight to outline the load plan any DG or any other details they feel the loady needs to know, at which point the loady will outline what they expect in terms of a change in load plans etc.

When the aircraft lands most aircrew go to the crew room or have down time but at this point the load master will inspect the load and the load plan and again raise any issues, and then the paperwork begins... and a lot of it, if its a international trip for example from memory its five copies of all the paperwork.

Then Finally the load is loaded on the aircraft and the movements guys sign over responsibility to the Loadmaster and from this point on the loadmaster is in charge of the load and pers in the aircraft.

That is a basic run down of the two roles and how they interact, as for testing I cannot remember if their is any, however, expect a lot of maths!!! with weight, fuel, pers, max takeoff and max landing all things the loadmaster has to take into account.

I would suggest if you waant to go RAAF loadmaster you join the RAAF, The reason even if joing the army in any job other than Aircrewman you would be unable to transfer till the latter side of 2015. This is due to all the money cuts how this works is if you leave the Army the RAAF have to pick up the pay tab where if you transfer from within the RAAF you are already beeing payed by them and it may only be a slight increase.

In terms of what to do AMS (air movements) or even AVTECH both jobs give you a great understanding of the aircraft with AV TECH giving you an overview of all the systems the load masters have to learn.


Cheers,

My friend as an old Loadmaster I would like to offer the following advice.

Forget about jioning any service than the RAAF, You will not look good wanting come across from the army at least to the interview board. I am not sure about direct entry as at one stage the Air Force was taking them for the C130's.

Now we have a situation that with the phase out of the C130H the flight engineer will be become redundant and you will have more competition for slots. FE's are moving over to the C130J and the C17. These two aircraft have the need for the loadmaster to be technical saving but I believe they give training for that.

Going to Air Movements I did five years of that task but I am not sure you can enter the RAAF as an aircraft loader. Air movements will give you a good grounding which you will need when operating from fields which have no Air Movement staff.

The technical side could be helped by asking for help from serving loadmasters who can show you and teach you much. Could put you again in good light at the interview stage if you show real ability there.

Another problem that you used to have done your Sgt's promotion exams and to have done this you need to be a CPL. It can take a long time to get that rank in Airmovements.

You also need to have an understanding wife, often you will be gone from home for long periods and often at short notice.

You will also be the only NCO on the crew so you need to have a mature and reliable attitude.

You can pass any more queries to me, I will be glad to help.

Lastly go to www.airmanaircrew.com

Need to poke around there alot to see what goes on

Regards

Col

Looks like they've just opened Loadmaster for direct entry again.

http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/airforce/jobs/Loadmaster/

Hey all, new to the forum.

I've been very interested in the Loadmaster position that apparently has just become available to civvies like myself - apparently it was only a job available to ADF personnel until recently.

After ringing recruiting last night to get some more info on the position, they still couldn't give me a clear cut answer so here I am. In the job description, after employment training, it has this paragraph.

On completion of an initial flying tour, you will be posted to a designated ground position for a minimum of three years to develop further skills and broaden your experience as a Senior Loadmaster. You will be posted into ground positions after each flying tour.

Does this mean after your first tour, you'll be grounded for a minimum of three years? They said as it's a new position they didn't know too much about it themselves. Also, what is defined as a "tour"? Is that a deployment? A training exercise?

Thanks in advance

RookieAU,
what they mean is you'll more than likely go to a training spot for the Loady school at Richmond or to the SPO that does test and eval of aerial dispatch gear etc, the name of the unit I cannot recall at the moment.
Even then these guys still deploy/fly as the tempo at AMG is high and many of the crews are pretty worn out so they always draw on non SQN loadys to backfill so to speak.
This is going on my time at Richmond in ALG/AMG back in 2014.