Commercial airlines - flying WITH a Phantom

Hi everyone, I have just joined the forum and have read through a few posts but just looking for good clarification really. I hope to go to south USA from Britain next October for a holiday and would love to take my Phantom 3 advanced with me. I am looking for advice on regulations or tips on travelling.

Many thanks
 
Hey @ebby422 ,
I think this is the right place to ask question about your experience so everyone on board could get benefit of it. Just read your post about being safely landed in India with your phantom. I am planning to bring my Phantom Standard from US to India next month. Could you share your experience in detail? Did you carry it in your carry on? What about battery? No questions asked at Indian airport?
Happy flying.
 
Anyone travel out of the us lately with a phantom and some batteries? Cos i am going to and its my brand new P3P and im nervous as hell lol
 
I travelled out of LAX into Bogota with my P3A and 3 batteries as carry on in a backpack.
Make sure the batteries are 30%-50% of charge and stored appropriately.
 
Here is some FAA information;

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...edia/faa_airline_passengers_and_batteries.pdf

In speaking with several TSA and airline folks, carry Li Po batteries as carry-on is the best bet and double check with your airline prior to flight.

I have done a number of flights and each time the airline asked I keep them in the temperature controlled pressurized cabin. Makes sense to me.

The bird, controller etc could go in the checked baggage minus batteries.
Latest Southwest info on "Hoverboards etc"

Southwest Airlines - Hoverboards and Similar Devices

...and this one says it all in my book;

PHMSA - Lithium Batteries

When I used to travel with my recumbent bike in a snowboard case I had a blog on how it broke down and carried several printouts with me to hand to baggage inspectors/TSA folks just in case. Maybe a copy or two of these guidelines with you can help. Often the folks at the counter/gate/check points do not even know the latest rules. Be polite and let them know you made sure to check up so as not to cause trouble. They will most often help you instead of causing a problem.
 
I flew to Ireland last month and had very little trouble with my P3P. I had it in DJI's hard case and carried it as carry-on for all the flights with the batteries in the case. The only thing I could have done more was put the batteries in a Lipo bag. In Chicago the airport swabed the inside of the case and the batteries and the Phantom and sent me on my way. The Phantom did get held up on the scanner line and other people where asking for thier stuff that was held up whith the phantom behind bullet proof glass. That only happened once in four flights in Chicago and Dublin airport didn't give a second look. Have fun.
 
i just landed in india from US to do some videos.. put it in my carry on with no issues through my travels.. went through at least 5 xrays.. i had 2 batteries as well.

hit me up with any questions :)

Hi, Im planning to go to Kerala, India in January (from UK). Which airport did you land at?
 
If anyone asks about it, why not just say that it's a remote controlled helicopter? It's plastic a looks enough like a toy. The lipo battery is also in a case so it doesn't look like a typical lipo battery (tunigy style, etc.).

I have global entry so they rarely stop me for anything. I don't even need to take off my shoes or remove my laptop from my bag.

So if you travel a lot domestically, it might be worth it to get global entry. For international travel, just tell them it's a toy. If it's in the box, say it's a gift / toy for your nephew, etc.

My Syma X8W looks like the Phantom 3 to the untrained eye...and it's a $100 toy.
 
My case is 24" and the rules say 22". Not sure what to do. Jet Blue says carry on can only be 14x24". Sounds sketchy. I don't want to get in a problem where I can't go or check my drone in checked baggage is my only choice. Has anyone had this dilemma?
 
My case is 24" and the rules say 22". Not sure what to do. Jet Blue says carry on can only be 14x24". Sounds sketchy. I don't want to get in a problem where I can't go or check my drone in checked baggage is my only choice. Has anyone had this dilemma?

JetBlue | Baggage info

You can take it to the gate and "Gate Check" it there. Providing it is small enough to fit through the TSA scanners. If its 24" on the long end and no more than 12" high, it should fit easily.

It will however go to your final destination and come out on the carousel.

You could put it in the overhead bin sideways, but it will not get you any favors from the Flight Attendants. It is #1 in their pet peeves list, only just ahead of "water for a pill" ;)
 
Traveling With LiPo Batteries and Your Drone
[ UPDATE AS OF March 2016! ]: As there is more and more vigilance and care present in air travel and transport, regulations are about to change and practices are changing as we speak. Although there is a distinctive difference between the more ubiquitous Lithium Ion batteries and the LiPo batteries we use in our multirotors, the new suggested regulation that should take place on April 1st of 2016 (date to be verified) only states “lithium batteries” in the main language so we should clearly attempt to comply with these new regulations. I would say even before the regulation goes into effect next year because the safety of fellow passengers and ourselves is paramount at this time and it’s easy to run into an over eager agent that would simply ground our batteries.

*I wanted to add here a tip from my friend Lynh Phan a major drone enthusiast about travelling with lipo batteries and the phantom 4.

Here’s A Unique Tip for Traveling With Phantom 4 LiPO Batteries

Today’s Tip.

How to transport P4 batteries easily through airports.

If you travel internationally frequently, print a copy of this certification for safe transport of goods by air for the P4 battery and you will have no issue going through TSA and onto airplane.

Enjoy and safe flying.

Lynh Phan

p 4 battery travel

Continued Travelling with LiPO Batteries Guide

What I can clearly make out of the language available here, the main changes are as follows (although the documents state that the regulation is for cargo):

Batteries must be offered for transport at a state of charge (SoC) not to exceed 30% of their rated design capacity. This means that you need to deplete your batteries before you attempt to transport them which is a good idea regardless of the mode of travel (as a package or on board a passenger aircraft).
A shipper is not permitted to present for transport more than one (1) package prepared according to Section II in any single consignment. Obviously, this regulates shipping, but there could be a situation where this will apply to our LiPo batteries as well.
The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has created a video that should be useful if you travel elsewhere and includes some basic instructions. At the same time, a certain level of flexibility is exercised before the changes take place but that is totally up to the discretion of the authorities on ground wherever you travel. I would also suggest that as opposed to what the video states, a LiPo safe bag is necessary if you want the travel with your drone batteries, I would not use the simple plastic bag shown in the video below:



[ ORIGINAL ARTICLE STARTS HERE ]

As the Holiday season is fast approaching and in some regions of the world already happening, more and more people prepare to travel to visit loved ones or just enjoy time away. Visiting new and exciting locations with different landscapes and cities compared to what you are used to flying around is a great opportunity to record some great aerial pictures and videos. If you are into posting your adventures online, you will have double motivation. You can brag about that great new place you have visited and show off your piloting skills at the same time. Seaside locations are particularly great to shoot amazing videos, leaving your Facebook friends dying of envy. Most hobby grade multirotors are equipped with Lithium Polymer batteries which require special precautions during charging and transportation. In previous posts here here and here, we have covered a lot of general and safety aspects of LiPo-s, so be sure to read them first as this post only covers the traveling aspects of things.

Traveling with lipo batteries by air is possible of course, but you need to make sure you comply with regulations and will also need some safety gear to be able to do so.

Checked-in or Carry-on?

First of all it is very important that LiPo batteries MUST be carried on with you on board the aircraft and CAN NOT be placed in checked in luggage! Swift change in temperature and air pressure make LiPo batteries susceptible to catching fire. You don’t want to end up like the owner of the carry case below:

Carry case that caught on fire onboard Fiji Airways
Carry case that caught on fire onboard a Fiji Airways flight. Source: petapixel.com
An Australian man learned this the hard way earlier this year. Just because you’ve disassembled your drone and packed it safely away in a number of Pelican cases, it doesn’t mean it can’t cause troubles when traveling (undeclared) in the cargo bay of your international flight.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigated a fire onboard a Fiji Airways flight that was moments from taking off to Nadi from Melbourne. Their investigation determined that the alarming “white heavy smoke billowing” from the plane’s cargo hold had been caused by a number of lithium polymer batteries catching fire. So I guess it is common sense that you don’t want set your plane on fire and traveling with lipo batteries is indeed dangerous.

I have been reading threads of discussion online debating if you should declare that you are traveling with LiPo-s when passing through the security inspection. Some reported having no problems even when questioned about the nature of the batteries and even friendly TSA personnel asking them if it is fun to fly quadcopters. At the same time, any Lithium based battery pack falls under IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations involving the shipment of lithium-based batteries on passenger and cargo aircraft. So if you use common sense, you must agree that not declaring things that are classified as dangerous goods is NOT a good idea. You can stretch your luck but don’t think that your LiPo-s will not be seen during screening. Also, please don’t blame me if you follow my advice and still get declined to travel with your batteries. If it happens, it will definitely not be because you declared them.

Quantities

The quantity permitted is based on watt-hours (Wh). Wh establishes the lithium content by multiplying voltage with the ampere-hours (Ah). For example, 14.40V x 5Ah battery = 72Wh.

The current IATA dangerous goods regulations and your rights as passenger to carry the LiPos with you in carry-on luggage but not in your checked luggage. There are 3 classes of LiPo batteries. Below 100Wh there are no quantity restrictions as to the amount of batteries you can carry. Between 100Wh and 160Wh you are limited to two battery packs total per passenger. Above 160Wh you are not permitted to carry the packs as carry-on.

Avoiding short circuit

As another safety precaution, though this might not be mandatory according to flight safety regulations is to avoid short circuiting the batteries thus increasing the chance of fire hazard. This is fairly simple, all you need to do is to place each battery into an individual plastic bag. This will come in handy when labeling also, see below. You can also shrink wrap the battery connectors with saran wrap. This process only takes a few seconds and reduces the possibility of electrical arcing and moisture getting to the battery connectors.

Labeling

It also maximizes your chance of your carry-on batteries not being declined by safety personnel if you stick a “Lithium Ion/Polymer Rechargeable Batteries Inside” label on each plastic bag. You can order a set of 500 pieces (will last you quite some time) via Amazon for about $26. Of course it should probably be ok for you to print your own labels, but these professional looking labels will suggest to the TSA agent that you know what you are doing.

Lithium Ion/Polymer Rechargeable Batteries Inside Label
Lithium Ion/Polymer Rechargeable Batteries Inside Label
No Old Batteries

Old batteries with lots of cycles on them are more dangerous to transport because the advancement of chemical reactions inside them. Never transport any batteries showing the signs of swelling or ones that are punctured in any way. Also do not transport batteries that should be retired soon. As a general rule, when your battery no longer holds more than 80% of its original capacity, it’s time to retire your pack and certainly if there is excessive puffing.

LiPo Bags

Placing your batteries in LiPo safe bags is an absolute necessity, if you don’t have them, do not even attempt to carry them on board an aircraft. This is also for your safety. Of course you do not need to have a separate LiPo safe bag for each battery as you have also placed them in separate plastic bags as suggested above. But depending on the number and size of your batteries, be sure to have a bag with enough space for them all, or use multiple bags. This one is a good option, but you can buy larger ones also:

Lipo Battery Storage/Protection Bags 160x65x65mm
Lipo Battery Storage/Protection Bags 160x65x65mm
Copter Together With Batteries?

The next question of course is if you should check your drone in as checked luggage or take it with you on board as a carry-on. I prefer to take my Phantom 2 Vision+ with me as a carry on item because I don’t feel comfortable losing sight of it and envision it being tossed around by airline personnel. Nevertheless, you should only even consider checking your copter in if you have a hard case such as the one below.

But be cautious, not all hard carry cases fit within the size of the carry-on restrictions which may vary from airline to airline. I use something like this, which is within that limitation at most airlines.

lipo battery travel case
DJI Phantom 2 / 2 Vision / Vision Plus Hard Case. Military Spec.



Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Has anyone taken a phantom3 on flight to Nicaragua? I'm about to go on a trip taking my Phantom3 in the hardshell backpack with 3 batteries..
 
We're flying in two weeks. Are there any updates/changes? Can we still fly with a drone? Keep the batteries in my carry-on and check the drone? I'd rather carry-on the whole P4 just so I know it's safe.
 
I had no problem flying Boston to LA a few weeks back with my phantom 4, had drone batteries and controller in carry on, checked the drone.
 
We're flying in two weeks. Are there any updates/changes? Can we still fly with a drone? Keep the batteries in my carry-on and check the drone? I'd rather carry-on the whole P4 just so I know it's safe.

FYI: update post trip

1) I flew P4 until the batteries were below 30%.
2) I was informed that you have to put tape over the battery contacts (so they don't short out anything)
3) Batteries were carried in the Phantom case just not IN the drone. Everything was carried on my person.
4) TSA gave me almost zero attention. The only thing they ask was if they could "swab" check it. Of course I said sure whatever they needed to do. The agent opened the case made a couple wipes inside and then called me over.

I thought "here it goes, some speal about being illegal". But nope! He had brushed the top of one of the batteries and turned the 4 green lights on (only one was lit because the batteries were discharged). He said, "sorry, I think I turned it on."

I replied, "no problem at all; the batteries are not in the phantom and explained how you press the power button to read battery strength. I just thanked him for telling me the battery was on and to have a good rest of the day.

He smiled and said you too.

I had two flights from SFO to Chicago to DAY and then two flights returning; same connecting legs. No other troubles at all for the whole trip.



Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
i just landed in india from US to do some videos.. put it in my carry on with no issues through my travels.. went through at least 5 xrays.. i had 2 batteries as well.

hit me up with any questions :)


Hi,
I saw you were able to bring your drone to India. I am planning to carry by Phantom 3 to India, but as per new drone policy in India as on April'16, drone now comes in restricted and dutiable items. I dont want to get stuck in that. Is it good idea to dismantle the drone and put it in check-in bag, and LiPO battery in carry-bag?
 

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