A340 freighter without a cargo door?

A freighter airliner without a main-deck cargo door? That is what LCF Converions and ACE Corp propose for the Airbus A340. Instead of using a main-deck cargo door freight can be loaded by the existing lower deck cargo doors and lifted 'upstairs' to the main deck by internal lifts. The lifts can be used as load-bearing floor during flight, so no space is lost within the fuselage.
This concept avoids the need to make any changes to the external structure of the aircraft, nor will it need any changes to the main deck floor (other than those needed to accommodate the fore and aft lifts). The cost of converting an A340-300 is only US$ 6.5 million, including the loading system. The A340-300 seems very suitable for this concept. There are enough secondhand A340-300s around against attractive prices. The A340-300LCF would have about the same cargo volume as a Boeing 767-300ERF, but has a better payload range capability. Later, the concept could also be applied to the later A340 models, and to various versions of the Boeing 777, which is still expensive on the second hand market. More: read here.

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