What happened
The captain reported that the aircraft was being used for a positioning flight and contained only six cargo deck pallets. Rather than being spread across the available floor positions (A through F) and secured individually, the pallets had been stacked at the 'B' position toward the front of the cargo deck.
As power was applied for takeoff, the improperly configured cargo shifted, causing the pallets to impact the aft bulkhead. The crew immediately aborted the takeoff. Following the incident, the pilots performed a visual inspection of the aft bulkhead and determined that no damage had occurred. Based on this assessment, the pilots re-filed their flight plan and proceeded with the positioning flight.
However, a subsequent inspection of the aircraft revealed substantial damage to the airframe.
The investigation
The investigation into the loading configuration revealed that the cargo handlers had strapped five of the pallets together using cargo straps and placed them on top of a single pallet that was secured in the 'B' position. While the primary pallet was secured to the deck, the five additional pallets were not secured to the underlying pallet in the 'B' position. Additionally, a pallet jack had been secured on top of the five stacked pallets using cargo straps.