Pressurize a Freighter?

[TrinidadGT20]

I saw a picture of Cargolux's newest 747-400F and it had the nose open. it made me wonder..Is the upper and lower deck of a 747 pressurized when hauling freight or just the upper deck?

 

[C650CPT]

Don't know about this one ( I suspect it is pressurized ), but a friend of mine flew Shorts and one day while holding for departure another pilot asked him if the shorts was pressurized ... he responded "did you ever see a square ballon?"

 

[ananoman]

The entire aircraft is pressurized. The 747 was in competition with the C-5 back when the Airforce was in the market for a very large airlifter. Both aircraft are entirely pressurized.

At first glance it might not seem logical to pressurize a cargo aircraft, but it makes sense for several reasons. It is almost impossible to heat an unpressurized aircraft at high altitude, and it is pretty cold up there (-56 C). Alot of stuff would not react well to these temperatures or the condensation formed when the aircraft descends to warmer air. It also makes it possible to ship 'live cargo'. They even have special containers to ship horses in.

 

[Tired]

For any aircraft that is a passenger aircraft, the same areas will be prssurized when it is a freighter. You can't just unpressurize certian parts of the aircraft without a MAJOR redesign.