Hi guys, Airline pilot and newbie soon to be drone owner here.
Fire on a plane is a very serious thing, easily our worst fear. Please be safe in your travels. While it is easy to understand a name brand Li-Po is better constructed than some discount e-cig or cell phone battery, the size alone makes it a bit of a risk. So, if you have any doubts about a certain battery it is best to not travel with it. If you do bring batteries aboard, please make sure they are travel ready as best practices dictate, such as charge level, terminals secured, in a safe container and the like.
All over water flights and almost all US domestic flights now have burn bags on board. It is like a pizza delivery bag but specially made to contain laptop and battery fires. Cabin crews are trained on how to best use these bags to fight a fire, so follow their instructions if the worst happens.
If you do have a problem in flight, fess up and let the cabin crew know right away. Time is critical in fighting fires in a cabin. Domestically remember this, it takes about 15 minutes to do an emergency descent, and as long as 45 minutes to get to a suitable landing airport. Over water, you could be 3 to 4 hours from a landing point!
Also, thanks to all on this forum in promoting safe flying and staying away from airports. While a drone is no match to a big jetliner, it could take out an engine and at the very least will be bad press for the hobby on the news channels.
I'm looking forward to getting my
P4P+ soon and learning how to fly it. Taking the FAA sUAS written was easy for me as the concepts they test on are the same we use in "big plane" flying. OTOH I have much to learn about the specifics of drone operation and will be asking a lot of questions in a few weeks.
Thanks for hearing me out, fly safe!