B767 Captain reported a cargo shift during descent. The Captain landed safely and discovered the rear locks for the pallets in the cargo area were not in the proper locked position.

Date: 2023-12 · Aircraft: B767-300 and 300 ER · Phase: descent

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-weight-and-balance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

B767 Captain reported a cargo shift during descent. The Captain landed safely and discovered the rear locks for the pallets in the cargo area were not in the proper locked position.

Narrative

As we started our descent with ZZZZ center heading into ZZZZ we heard and felt a thump from the rear of the aircraft. We weren't sure if it was a pressurization change or if it was a cargo shift. We continued descending. Around 14800 ft. as we leveled off (and entered the airspace) we determined that it was definitely something shifting in the back as the pitch changed. It was loud; but there was no appreciable change in the CG or controllability. We elected to continue into ZZZ and fly an arrival and approach with the minimum pitch changes as possible to minimize the chance of a load shift. I elected to continue as the pilot monitoring. My First Officer (FO) kept flying and did a great job with managing the power and flap settings through out the entire approach and landing to minimize pitch changes. The landing was uneventful. Upon block in; I went back and found that the rear locks on the large Unit Load Device (ULD) in 10 L were not up. There was a large void behind this position. We were very fortunate that there was not a heavy load in that ULD because the only thing keeping the can from sliding back and causing a large CG shift was the protruding piece of the next lock. Cause: The loading crew rushing and not securing the locks.Suggestions: Checklist for the load crews and final checks by flt ops personal to ensure that locks are up. We were late out of ZZZZ1. The pressure of that may have been a contributing factor to the load crews hurrying.

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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.