The multiservice helicopter sling load manuals, explained

The multiservice helicopter sling load manuals are three Army technical manuals (TMs), shared with the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, that set equipment, rigging and inspection rules for loads carried under a helicopter. The Army Publishing Directorate's publication search lists all three as active: TM 4-48.09, Basic Operations and Equipment, dated July 23, 2012, and TM 4-48.10, Single-Point Load Rigging Procedures, and TM 4-48.11, Dual-Point Load Rigging Procedures, both dated July 5, 2013. All three are approved for public release. The first volume opens with the key rule: a qualified sling load inspector must inspect Army loads before the supporting aircraft arrives.

Designations, editions and signers

Each volume carries five numbers, one per service. TM 4-48.09 is also Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 4-11.3E, Volume I; Navy Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (NTTP) 3-04.11; Air Force Manual (AFMAN) 11-223(I), Volume I; and Coast Guard Commandant Instruction (COMDTINST) M13482.2B. The single-point and dual-point volumes follow as Volumes II and III, NTTP 3-04.12 and 3-04.13, and COMDTINST M13482.3B and M13482.4B.

TM 4-48.09 supersedes FM 4-20.197, dated July 20, 2006. The single-point and dual-point volumes supersede FM 4-20.198 and FM 4-20.199, both dated February 20, 2009, in what each cover calls a special conversion: title and content are identical to the field manuals, no doctrine changes since February 20, 2009 were added, and some cited sources may no longer be current. The index lists the earlier series as FM 10-450-3, -4 and -5, dated 1997, 1998 and 1999.

TM 4-48.09 is issued by order of the Secretaries of the Army and the Air Force and by direction of the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard and the Navy. The signers are the Army and Air Force chiefs of staff, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Commander of Naval Sea Systems Command and the Coast Guard's Assistant Commandant for Capability. The proponent is the Army's Training and Doctrine Command; comments go to the Aerial Delivery and Field Services Department of the Quartermaster Center and School at Fort Lee, Virginia.

What each volume covers

TM 4-48.09 introduces the sling sets, cargo nets and other equipment in the Department of Defense (DOD) inventory, the helicopters that carry them, and basic rigging and hookup. It implements four NATO standardization agreements. The manual defines a single-point load as one load on one cargo hook and a dual-point load as one load on two hooks.

For the CH-47, the manual gives the center cargo hook a maximum capacity of 26,000 pounds. The forward and aft hooks, about 6 1/2 feet fore and aft of center, carry up to 17,000 pounds each for single-point loads and 25,000 pounds when used together. The manual adds that the flight engineer lies on the floor and guides the pilot over the load.

TM 4-48.10 holds certified single-point rigging procedures in chapters 2 through 14, grouped by equipment type, and suitable procedures in chapters 15 through 23. TM 4-48.11 holds certified dual-point procedures in chapters 2 through 13 and suitable procedures in chapter 14.

How a load gets certified

TM 4-48.09 sorts every sling load into one of three classes. A certified load is an item and rigging procedure that completed the evaluation and testing required by the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC). Only certified loads are authorized for the Marine Corps. Certification holds only while the load stays within the helicopter's lift and the sling set's rated capacity and is rigged exactly as directed. Other rigging, or a change in weight, model or structure, creates a unique load.

A suitable load has not been certified but showed acceptable static lift and flight characteristics in a flight test. Most were not pull tested under MIL-STD-913, but NSC considers them proven safe. A unique load is carried once or rarely, such as telephone poles or barrier material, and should be treated as high risk; in the Army it should be approved by the high risk approving authority.

All five services take part in the certification program the Army began in 1984. The certification design standard, MIL-STD-913A, is dated February 3, 1997; Notice 1, of June 11, 2002, found it valid for acquisition use. NSC also holds that a single-point load certified for one aircraft is certified for any aircraft with suitable lift. The rule does not extend to dual-point loads.

Inspectors and the certification course

Appendix I of TM 4-48.09 requires an inspection of all Army loads, recorded on the Sling Load Inspection Record, before the supporting aircraft arrives. An inspector must be in grade E-4 or above and a graduate of Pathfinder, Air Assault or Sling Load Inspector Certification. The record goes in three copies: one to the aviation unit, one taped or tied to the load and one to the supported unit. Units cannot train or certify their own inspectors, the manual says.

The Sling Load Inspector Certification Course (SLICC) comes from the Aerial Delivery and Field Services Department at Fort Lee. A 2021 Fort Carson story describes it as a five-day course for specialists and above that certifies personnel from all services; a mobile training team supported 54 personnel there. Students must score 80 percent on a written test taken without notes, then 80 percent on each of four hands-on load inspections. A 2017 Fort Campbell story quotes an instructor who said traveling teams reach 40 or more students a class, against 20 at Fort Lee.

What to check

• Does a rigging reference note that TM 4-48.10 and TM 4-48.11 carry the content of the February 20, 2009 field manuals?
• Is the load certified, suitable or unique, and was it rigged exactly as directed?
• For a CH-47 load, does the weight fit the hook in use: 26,000 pounds center, 17,000 pounds forward or aft, 25,000 pounds dual-point?
• Is the inspector E-4 or above with Pathfinder, Air Assault or SLICC credit, with the record in three copies?
• Does a claim that a load is certified for another aircraft involve a single-point load, the only case that rule covers?

Azcuna's ELLMENT for the CH-47 puts the Chinook's public technical manuals, the Army sling-load manuals and a unit's own SOPs on a laptop or tablet that answers a repairer's or flight engineer's question with no network and cites the manual and page. Azcuna submitted it as a concept white paper to the Army's xTech|Search 10 competition in October 2026.

Sources

1. 1Publication search (Active, Inactive and Rescinded) · Army Publishing Directorate
2. 2TM 4-48.09, Multiservice Helicopter Sling Load: Basic Operations and Equipment · Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard (July 23, 2012)
3. 3TM 4-48.10, Multiservice Helicopter Sling Load: Single-Point Load Rigging Procedures · Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard (July 5, 2013)
4. 4TM 4-48.11, Multiservice Helicopter Sling Load: Dual-Point Load Rigging Procedures · Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard (July 5, 2013)
5. 5MIL-STD-913A (Notice 1), Design Criteria Requirements for the Certification of Sling Loaded Military Equipment for External Transportation by Department of Defense Helicopters · Department of Defense, via EverySpec (Notice 1, June 11, 2002)
6. 6Sling Load Certification · 4th Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, via DVIDS (August 30, 2021)
7. 7SCREAMING EAGLES: Course teaches proper sling load inspections · 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, via DVIDS (August 10, 2017)

Where this shows up in our work

• ELLMENT for the CH-47 Chinook answers a repairer's or flight engineer's question from the Chinook's manuals and the Army sling-load manuals and cites the page, with no network.
• TRACE, the offline S1000D and IETM viewer opens S1000D, MIL-STD-3001 and PDF technical manuals on a tablet with every marking intact.