DHL A300 in the Cockpit: Flying Cargo Through the Night
Inside the cockpit of a DHL Airbus A300 on a night cargo flight from Brussels to Milan Malpensa.In this video we get rare access to the DHL cargo hub in Brussels before flying its Airbus A300 freighter operated by European Air Transport (EAT) on an overnight cargo mission to Milan Malpensa (MXP).
The Airbus A300 is the first ever Airbus built, and because it came before the company introduced its signature fly-by-wire and sidestick controls, the A300 still uses a traditional yoke and mechanical cables, giving it a very different look and feel compared to modern Airbus aircraft.
But before we head to the cockpit, we go behind the scenes inside the massive DHL logistics hub in Brussels, where the scale of the global cargo operation becomes clear.
This facility processes 27,000 packages every hour, with around 500 truck movements and 26 cargo flights arriving and departing every night. Even knowing those numbers, nothing quite prepares you for the size and speed of the operation as containers and packages move rapidly through the sorting system. And we have access to it all.
At the hub we explore:
• DHL’s package sorting system and container logistics
• The load control and operations center where flights are monitored
• The wall display tracking aircraft using Flightradar24 (with a handy use of Filters to track only the relevant ones)
• Loading and unloading of our Airbus A300 freighter: average turnaround time to do all this is 120 minutes (!)
• Riding in a tug as we push back a DHL A330 Freighter (A330F)
Then it’s time for the main event: flying the A300 through the middle of the night with Captain Delphine and First Officer Robin.
During the flight we:
• Take a look at the A300 cockpit layout with traditional yokes
• Explore the unique galley and row of five jumpseats on this classic Airbus freighter (and learn how cargo pilots make coffee)
• Go underneath the cockpit to the avionics and electronics bay
• See the mechanical flight control cables used before fly-by-wire
• Handle an in-flight fuel trim system fault
• Perform a CAT III autoland in heavy fog at Milan Malpensa
• Find out why they call this airplane a Grandma.
DHL Express runs one of the largest air logistics networks in the world. The company operates with 19 partner airlines and nearly 300 aircraft, flying more than 2,400 flights every day worldwide. In 2024 alone, DHL moved 276 million time-definite shipments through its global network.
From the intense activity of the Brussels cargo hub to the quiet focus of a midnight cargo cockpit, this video shows the entire process of flying freight through the night.
Flightradar24 playback of flight QY412 on February 4, 2026: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/d-aeai#3e2e74a8
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SECTIONS:
01:03 Load Controllers
02:48 The massive Brussels cargo hub
05:09 Control center with FR24
06:42 Tug ride for A330F pushback
08:45 Greeting our A300!
11:00 Unloading the A300
12:18 EAT and DHL airline structure
13:37 Jumpseats and galley
14:54 Meeting the crew
15:57 Tour of the cargo compartment & safety briefing
18:52 Pre-flight outside checks
20:04 Flight briefing and takeoff calculations
23:46 Secret avionics bay tour!
24:47 History of the A300
25:39 Preparing for departure
27:33 How the loadsheet works
30:03 Pushback & Taxi
33:58 Takeoff
36:43 Trim tank system fault
39:39 How the pilots rest
41:13 "Gear up neutral" explanation
42:17 The "grandma" airplane
45:14 Milan weather & approach briefing
46:22 Top of descent
50:05 Why the CATIII Autoland?
52:44 Final approach
54:46 Landing MXP
57:56 Opening cargo door & goodbye
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