A man was driving a truck along a narrow windy road, and a man in a car was following closely behind. He noticed that every few kms the truck driver was stopping (blocking the narrow double lined road) and banging the side of truck with a stick, then would continue on. he would repeatedly do this every few kms or so and bang side of truck with a stick. Eventually the car driver asked the truck driver why he was stopping and banging the truck all the time, and the response was, ‘I only got a 1 tonne truck but I have 2 tonnes of birds inside. I need to keep them flying’
Nice, but! Good story, but let's get technical. To fly, a bird must generate downwash to create the necessary lift. The resultant downforce must be equal to the weight of the bird. If this downwash acts on the floor of the truck (which it must if an enclosed cargo area), then the effective weight on the floor would be the same whether the bird is flying or sitting. Many years ago, I was involved in a ship salvage (bulk iron ore carrier off WA). Some bright spark came up with the idea of getting choppers to connect ropes/straps to the ship and reduce the deadweight of the ship by "trying" to lift it. Problem of course was that the downwash would equal the lifting force generated plus the weight of the chopper/s. Refloated the ship by conventional means, including dumping some 5,000 tons of iron ore off the side of the ship.v Worked a treat, but upset a few greenies!
If the bottom of the container was mesh, most of the displaced air would go through the it, decreasing the applied force significantly.
Being animal transporting, if were being technical, they'd have to have sufficient openings for breathing!
