Heavy Transport; Low Wing; 4 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Weight And Balance
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
We had MEL 25-57-02 for positions at XL and R which voided those positions for small cans. The first step is for Dispatch to notify the ramp about the voids. This was done several hours before loading. The Load Verification Manifest is no longer available as the auto WB system is paperless; but I had been told that cans are only allowed to be in the positions set forth by the ramp agent who builds the load sheet. This is the person who was notified by Dispatch and told about the voids. There was some confusion on my part as to how the new paperless system should not allow a voided position to be filled. Turns out the auto WB system does not 'Know' about MELs at this time. Once airborne; we received a message from Dispatch notifying us of a possible position transposition and after we landed it turned out that the cans were put in the wrong place.It appears the ramp agent transposed the positions that were voided. The Auto verify system is not currently capable of catching those errors. A Load Verification Manifest is no longer available to the crews as the Auto WB is paperless. I understood that the load crew was aware of the MEL and expected the Auto WB to protect the voids.1. Have the ramp agent present the Auto WB device so the crew can verify the voids. (Short term) 2. Have the Auto WB system be able to pull MEL's and protect against these kinds of errors. 3. Have the release system add another tab showing the load plan so crews can verify the MEL voids on the computer before signing the release. This way; the crew can see the plan before stepping. 4. When maintenance MELs and voids a position; could they add a placard over (on top of) the position's scan code (Barcode) with a void message? This could prevent the Auto WB scanner from (seeing) scanning that position; and the operator would also see the void warning.
Cargo Captain discovers that the new paperless automatic weight and balance system is not aware of MEL restrictions on loading and requires human intervention; but the humans responsible are not aware of this requirement.