Military transport aircraft’s cargo door systems expose a major design flaw. These large doors have to be ideal seals while also permitting quick loading and unloading operations. Particularly in severe weather, the complicated hydraulic and mechanical systems running these doors are prone to breakdown. These doors’ need to be both structural elements and access points causes natural flaws in the airframe. Furthermore prone to breakdown are the seals around cargo doors, which could cause pressurization problems during flight. These doors’ weight affects the aircraft’s center of gravity as well, hence loading procedures must take much thought.
The most unexpected weakness in military transport aircraft is maybe their sensitivity to electromagnetic interference (EMI). For navigation, communication, and cargo control, modern military transport aircraft mostly depend on complex electronic equipment. These systems have, however, exhibited surprising sensitivity to EMI from both inside and outside devices. For electromagnetic waves, the big cargo holds essentially function resonance chambers, producing interference patterns capable of upsetting important avionics equipment. When moving military vehicles with active electronic systems or when running close to strong radar stations, this problem gets very troublesome. The shielding needed to guard against EMI gives the airplane great weight, therefore influencing its payload capacity and fuel economy. The possibility of EMI influencing fly-by-wire control systems raises most concerns since it might cause flight control problems in important phases of flight.
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