Load Control System — Load Control System

Overview

Load control is the end-to-end ground-operations discipline that turns passenger, baggage, and cargo figures into a safely loaded, dispatch-ready aircraft. A Load Control System is the software that runs this process: it ingests final passenger and baggage counts from the Departure Control System (DCS), cargo and mail figures, and fuel figures from the Flight Planning System, then produces the aircraft's load sheet, loading instruction report, and NOTOC.

What It Produces

Standards

The IATA Airport Handling Manual (AHM) — Chapter 5 of which is dedicated to load control — sets industry-standard procedures, load sheet formats, and messaging conventions used across airlines and ground handlers worldwide, working alongside the IATA Ground Operations Manual (IGOM) for procedural guidance and IATA's Unit Load Device (ULD) Regulations for container and pallet handling.

Where It Sits in the Ecosystem

Load control typically operates as a module within, or tightly integrated with, a DCS/PSS: passenger and bag counts flow in from check-in and boarding, fuel and alternate data flow in from the Flight Planning System, and the resulting load sheet flows out to the cockpit and to ground operations for final sign-off before pushback.

Weight & Balance vs. Load Control

Weight and Balance is the specific calculation embedded inside load control — the arithmetic that turns loading data into a weight figure and a center-of-gravity position. Load Control is the broader system and workflow around that calculation: collecting the inputs, planning where cargo and baggage physically go, producing the load sheet and loading instructions, and distributing the required messages. Most airlines and vendors today sell a single integrated "Load Control / Weight & Balance" product, but the two terms describe different scopes — process versus calculation.