B777-200
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Confusion; Training / Qualification; Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Weight And Balance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
Flew five hour flight with Dry Ice and Live Animals in same cargo compartmentNotification to Captain and Load Closeout showed one package with 90kg of dry ice in the AFT cargo compartment that also had two dogs in the 'same' compartment. With the tug still attached to the aircraft prior to engine start First Officer brought to my attention that there was a conflict with the closeout and company policy. With the initial intention of returning to a gate and this question of what would constitute 'shared space' using the AFT cargo compartment and the BULK cargo compartment (to include what may or may not be loaded in each with live animals present) we contacted Ops to confirm the load closeout and to ensure the packages were where the closeout had them listed. Following a several minute delay; we were told that the locations were confirmed; but that there was a cargo manual entry or policy (I can't remember which) that allowed up to 181.2kg (+/-) of dry ice in one of the aft compartments if the animals were located in the other. With that information; I made the decision to continue to destination. THE DECISION WAS WRONG.Also; we sent the following message to Dispatch Enroute.DELAY OUT DUE TO DRY ICE AND ANIMALS IN THE SAME CARGO COMPARTMENT. AFTER MUCH TEETH GNASHING WE WERE ASSURED WE WERE LEGAL. 90 KG OF DRY ICE WITH UP TO 181.2 +/- KG ALLOWED. MY CONCERN WAS THAT OUR PAPERWORK HAS A REMARK QUOTE DO NOT LOAD LIVE ANIMALS IN SAME COMPARTMENTS AS DRY ICE UNQUOTE. PLEASE PASS TO LOADS(UNQUOTE)In speaking with the CARGO HAZMAT folks; I have since found out that the flight was closely monitored with the thought that we may have been directed to land short. The flight continued and the dogs were healthy when off loaded (immediately) by station personnel. Additionally; it is my understanding that there is now in place a review by CARGO to ensure that a change to their manuals initiated [few months ago] eliminating ALL confusion concerning dry ice and live animals has been put in place with the goal of removing all incorrect references system wide.Quite simply; NO means NO! The topic of what may be allowed in 'shared space' in a cargo compartment could be addressed at the Human Factors level during training or; more appropriately; during the performance section.
B777 Captain reports departing on a five hour flight with live animals and 90 KGs of dry ice in the same compartment. Load planning is queried and the crew is told that this was allowed by the cargo loading manual. After the flight; the Captain is informed that an error in interpretation was made.