Drone travel on plane? Carry on or checked?
- Thread starter Luno
- Start date
Carry on.
Might cover the terminals with a bit of painters tape to protect them and possibly prevent a short.
Might cover the terminals with a bit of painters tape to protect them and possibly prevent a short.
Yes.
They make fireproof lipo bags and plastic terminal covers for the batteries, but I have read that they may attract more attention to the airport screeners.
I have not heard of a DJI battery spontaneous combust like the cheap batteries in phones and toys.
Check it out, but late to get some but I’ll get them for the future and just tape the battery terminals. I’ve got the fly more case so at least it all looks packed away nicely
best thing to do is get a hard case.
I just put them on the belt and goes straight through.
Recently, since the Mavic Air cases are so large, I went back to the stock cases and put them in a carry on size roller bag.
Worked out very well for my past trip in Vegas.
I just put them on the belt and goes straight through.
Recently, since the Mavic Air cases are so large, I went back to the stock cases and put them in a carry on size roller bag.
Worked out very well for my past trip in Vegas.
I frequently travel throughout Europe with my drone(s). I checked the procedures carefully before I travel, but I've not had any major problems.
It varies from airline to airline, but for most of the EU, you can carry up to four LIPO batteries under 100 watt hours (For me, this is three Mavic 2/Spark batteries and my 21mAh phone pack.) in your hand baggage, NOT checked-in.
It is recommended that you discharge any batteries you will not be using to below 25% and make sure they cannot short. I use camkix LIPO explosion proof bags for mine.
On going through security, I put the drone, the controller and all its batteries in the electronics tray and declare the lot as carry-on baggage.
I've been stopped twice while travelling with a drone. The first time I ever travelled with a drone, I got stopped and pulled aside because...I had a 50ml container of hand gel in my sponge bag I had forgotten about. The security guy also said 'Hey, is that a Spark? I own a Phantom!'. We ended up happily geeking out about drones while he checked my hand luggage.
The second time I got stopped because the security dude was unfamiliar with LiPo explosion-proof bags. I explained what they were (never use the word 'explosion' to airport security- I saw the poor man flinch!), and he took the batteries out and swabbed the bag and they went through no problem.
Other than those two instances, I've had no issues. I guess I'd have avoided the second one if I hadn't used the explosion proof bags, but I feel they are a suitable extra layer of safety and best practice when travelling with high-voltage batteries. The most common reaction I've had is a certain amount of drooling and quite a few chats with drone-owning security guards or passengers. I realised that a lot of folks get jobs at airport due to a general fascination with anything airborne, so normally they are friendly and interested...and a little bit envious!
It varies from airline to airline, but for most of the EU, you can carry up to four LIPO batteries under 100 watt hours (For me, this is three Mavic 2/Spark batteries and my 21mAh phone pack.) in your hand baggage, NOT checked-in.
It is recommended that you discharge any batteries you will not be using to below 25% and make sure they cannot short. I use camkix LIPO explosion proof bags for mine.
On going through security, I put the drone, the controller and all its batteries in the electronics tray and declare the lot as carry-on baggage.
I've been stopped twice while travelling with a drone. The first time I ever travelled with a drone, I got stopped and pulled aside because...I had a 50ml container of hand gel in my sponge bag I had forgotten about. The security guy also said 'Hey, is that a Spark? I own a Phantom!'. We ended up happily geeking out about drones while he checked my hand luggage.
The second time I got stopped because the security dude was unfamiliar with LiPo explosion-proof bags. I explained what they were (never use the word 'explosion' to airport security- I saw the poor man flinch!), and he took the batteries out and swabbed the bag and they went through no problem.
Other than those two instances, I've had no issues. I guess I'd have avoided the second one if I hadn't used the explosion proof bags, but I feel they are a suitable extra layer of safety and best practice when travelling with high-voltage batteries. The most common reaction I've had is a certain amount of drooling and quite a few chats with drone-owning security guards or passengers. I realised that a lot of folks get jobs at airport due to a general fascination with anything airborne, so normally they are friendly and interested...and a little bit envious!
My experience totally although I haven’t broken out the Spark packages like you have-they’ve remained in my carry-on packed as required by each airline. Re security checks I have two metal hips which get picked up in the scanner every time and regularly, having gone through fine, the checker has said “hey buddy, my Dad’s just about to have a hip op, what’s it like”, or words to that effect. They’re just humans like us!!
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