Air carrier flight crew reported the undocumented transport of Hazmat class1 explosives. The issue was discovered at destination arrival where it was determined the departure ramp crew failed to unload seven cargo pallets.
Synopsis
Air carrier flight crew reported the undocumented transport of Hazmat class1 explosives. The issue was discovered at destination arrival where it was determined the departure ramp crew failed to unload seven cargo pallets.
Narrative
Me and the crew arrived at the plane via bus. Once we got off I was told loading was complete and that all doors have been closed. I saw no loaders or equipment in the vicinity of the airplane just a few ground ops personal that would do the pushback. I was giving the paperwork where I saw on all 3 sheets flight plan; load plan and weight and balance all had the payload at 0. The First Officer finished his walk around we completed our checklist and told ground personnel that there will be a delay due to ATC slot issues. We pushed back; taxied out and performed a normal takeoff. About 2 to 3 hours into the flight we started noticing that our fuel score was slowly dropping from +2.0 to 1.8 and lower. We checked the fuel synoptic page and all fuel tanks were even; saw the fuel flow and burn rate and again everything was even so a fuel leakage wasn't suspected. We were still showing +2.0 above min fuel for the re-release point and landing at destination with about 26;000 kilos. Me and the First Officer compared the winds with flight plan with those that we had and assumed the reason for the increase fuel burn was due to the tail winds not being as strong as forecasted. We landed in at our destination; taxied over to the ramp; completed the appropriate checklist and began preparing to exit the cockpit. The First Officer went outside to do his walk round and as I was about to leave with the other Captain; the First Officer explains that ground personnel have just found one pallet in the aft lower lobe that was supposed to be off loaded at our departure airport . I called the company and spoke to the dispatcher about the current situation and he said he will get right back to me. The dispatcher called me back and said that manager and lead have been informed; that's where I told him according ground personnel it's now a minimum of two pallets now and that I'll be filling a report once I reached the hotel. Once at the hotel I was informed that it was 7 pallets weighing close to 10000 kilos ; which was found and the most likely cause to the over burn
Second reporter narrative
I was the relief pilot on an augmented crew of three; operating an empty ferry flight from ZZZZ1 to ZZZZ. During the cruise phase; we noted that our fuel consumption was higher than planned. However; it was still adequate to meet our landing and diversion fuel requirements. During the landing in ZZZZ; the pilot in command (PIC); who was also the pilot flying (PF); touched down smoothly; but the aircraft subsequently became airborne for what appeared to be approximately one foot in the air. He remarked that the aircraft had a nose up pitching tendency and that he had to exert an abnormal amount of forward pressure to lower the nose on the ground. The taxi to our gate and parking proceeded without incident. During the postflight inspection; it was discovered that various pallets of class 1 DG cargo were never unloaded from the aft lower lobe cargo compartment at ZZZZ1. Since this was intended to be an empty ferry flight; these pallets were not accounted for on the loadsheet; therefore our weight and balance calculations were inaccurate. Cause: The cause of this incident could be attributed to the failure of the ramp personnel at ZZZZ1 to ensure that the aft lower lobe was unloaded completely. Suggestions: As inspecting the lower lobes is not part of our duties; we are completely reliant on the ramp personnel to ensure that these cargo compartments are loaded and unloaded in accordance to the corresponding procedures.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.