BrunoFR
lvl.1
Flight distance : 200023 ft
France
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I'm right back from a trip France - USA and I took my P3P with its Lipo as a carry on.
Even if I'm owning a dedicated hard case, I did not dare to put my precious in a checked baggage as sometimes they get lost / stolen.
For my carry-on baggage, I just had in addition a liposafe bag just in case (10$ on Amazon.com) to protect my spare battery, my first battery was inserted in the drone. Have a look at the IATA regulations regarding LiPo batteries (). I always carry a paper copy of this document in case of problems at the customs.
From the US to France, I had absolutely no issue at the customs (apart of being force to walk almost half-naked through the security door, but that's usual) .
From France to the US, I was very afraid of our usual clueless security employees (I'm French, I know them, I looove them). And it turned out to be very funny (and somehow freaky) :
- Custom guy : what's in that bag? A computer?
- Me: no, it's drone
- Him: ... what's that, "a drone"?
- Me: (F*ck*ng hell...). Well, this is a toy that flies, some kind of remote controled helicopter
- Him: is it big?
- Me: (I open the bag to show him the P3P) kind of, have a look.
- Him: Waow, that's big !!!
- Me: (thank you sir, I'm flattered...) Yeah, well, it fits into the carry-on baggage dimensions <big grin>
- Him: Ok... well... hummm... I don't know what to do with that, put it in the X-ray machine and it it doesn't beep and if the operator does not complain, you're good.
So did I and no-one complained, neither the machine nor the operator. *No-one" gave a shit about the lipo batteries either. Two hug rectangular black boxes seen on the X-ray machine but that doesn't ring a bell to anyone... I feel so safe now...
I also dodged the random check, right at the entrance of the airplane, conducted by US customs based in France.
So... I cannot tell it's safe to take your drone as carry-on, but be prepared to discuss and most important follow IATA regulations and check your company about specific regulations. I checked "Air France" regulations to be sure they were aligned with IATA's. I also asked "Air France" on Facebook if it was allowed to bring a drone with me in the plane. I think it's always good to check ith the company, you do not want your P3P to be refused from boarding at the last moment...
Next try, next week to Canada. I'll see if everything goes smooth as for the US. |
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