What happened
During the flight planning phase for a rescheduled service including Karrately, the flight crew received multiple pieces of documentation regarding baggage. An earlier version of the cargo manifest summary likely included data for 30 bags that had been offloaded from a previous flight. While the final cargo manifest summary provided to the crew matched the actual checked-in baggage for the passengers, it contained errors regarding the total number and weight of the loaded bags. This discrepancy occurred because the final summary was an attempt to merge two different services that had already been marked as departed in the check-in system.
The investigation
The investigation focused on how the incorrect weight and balance figures were entered into the electronic load sheet. It was determined that the crew likely used baggage weight information from an earlier cargo manifest summary, which was marked as 'Acceptance not finalised,' during the planning stage. When comparing the weight from this initial summary (388 kg) against the final summary (365 kg), the captain likely assumed the planned weight was acceptable.
Furthermore, the investigation examined the use of the Load Instruction Sheet (LIS). While the LIS provides the distribution and total count of bags across cargo compartments, it lacks specific weight data. The investigation found that the crew likely failed to crosscheck the total bag count listed on the LIS against the final cargo manifest summary, which prevented the detection of the error.
Findings
- The final cargo manifest summary contained inaccurate baggage data due to an attempt to amalgamate two separate services.
- The flight crew likely entered baggage weight from an unfinalised cargo manifest summary into the electronic load sheet.
- The crew did not crosscheck the total number of bags on the LIS against the final cargo manifest summary, leading to the aircraft departing with incorrect weight and balance calculations.