TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tourist

[desertphantom]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Hi All,

New to this forum and new proud owner of the Phantom 2 Vision Plus V3.
Sadly, I have not been able to lay my hands on the beauty as yet as its sitting pretty in a hotel in USA awaiting my arrival next week.
I'm from India and will be visiting the US soon. Although I'm going there for a vacation but the primary concern on my mind is getting my phantom safely back to India.

Drones were recently banned in India w.e.f 7th Oct 2014 which effectively means I need to conceal it some how or else i'm risking confiscation. I seek your help and suggestions on how to reduce my chances of getting caught with it.

Following are some of the options i'm considering:
Carry-on OR Checked Baggage: Should I bring it in as a carry on or check it in with rest of my baggage. I do have a hard case heavy duty bag and was planning to do away with the original box and wrap the phantom in a bubble paper and old clothes. A new/packed phantom in its original box would surely invite customs interest and I'm hoping doing this might help. I will then carry the remote in carry-on. However, i'm worried about the safety of the phantom in checked in baggage i.e. breakage and mis-handling or even it being stolen by the baggage handlers.

Or should I just carry it all with me in my carry-ons?

Batteries: I have bought 2 spare batteries and as far as I understand even this has some flight restrictions. Going by my limited knowledge on the subject, I am planning to leave the original battery in the phantom, which is planned to be inside the hard case checked in bag and carry 1 spare each with me and my partner in our carry on's. So effectively here will be the original battery in checked in baggage(inside the phantom), 1 spare in my carry on and 1 spare in my partners carry on.

Disassemble: The insides of a phantom have very little circuitry, some wires and 4 motors. Theoretically speaking, it should be easy to disassemble and re-assemble later. I might be able to easily pass of the bare skeleton as a toy. while this option has the best chances of success, it seems very risky though i.e. what if i break or mess something inside and the phantom never flies again.

I need all the help I can get so please do let me know your views on the above or any other suggestions or advise. It is much much appreciated as I have a lot at stake here, Thanks

Laila K.

Have anyone taken Phantom to India after the ban mentioned above was imposed ?
What does this ban actually mean?
Can you or can you not take through customs or is it just a fly ban or a ban on ownership ?
I am flying to India next week and would like to hear your opinion on take or not to take.

Thanks

 

[The Editor]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

*Update... My contact told the Transportation personell handling my permit that we needed this for an event that was time sensitive and he was able to speed up my permit. They approved temporary use today for 5 days. I went all the way to the Transportation and Communications office to pick up my permit, I then had to drive back to customs at the aiport and present my permit. They examied the Phantom, remote and LCD thoroughly and made me pay $113.00USD. Customs says I will get this deposit back when I leave the country and show I'm leaving with my phantom complete. From there I was able to get my phantom out of customs and use it in Peru.

Not an easy process and I would have never been able to do this without my local contact. The running around you have to do is just insane. The Transporation office is about 1.5-2hrs away from the Airport with Traffic. The normal wait time for the temporary permit is 4-5 days. Keep all of this in mind when you think about traveling to Peru.

I had my phantom in a carry on case. It would have made zero difference if it was dissassembled because they xray every single bag you have whether it's carry on or check-in. The xray would have seen all the electronics and the actual phantom shell which they recognize as a drone. Also they will give you issues about the remote since they say 2.4ghz is illegal. What might help is if the remote reads 5.8ghz. I don't know if that's illegal or not but they sure didnt' like 2.4ghz. Overall it's not worth the effort unless you plan on staying in Lima a few days and don't mind running around and waiting for the permit. Customs mentioned they get a lot of "drones" trying to pass through and all of them must go through this process.

So..... 2.4ghz is illegal in Peru..... Oh, unless you pay $113 - Then you can fly around and take video :lol: :lol:

Typical - Seems like a scam to make money to me. As far as I can see 2.4ghz is not illega in Peru. The band in quetion is a candidate for implementation of future mobile services as per the World Radiocommunications Conference WRC-07.

2.4ghz IS available - Of course the fact that Viettel Inc has recently been granted the top up of 2.5ghz would have nothing to do with their corrupt ways eh? My guessing is Viettel want this lucrative frequency for themselves but as yet have not been granted it. However I'm sure some palms have been greased internally to say that 2.4ghz is 'Illegal' to outsiders!

 

[ExtraKim]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Lipos should be carried on.

How many many lipos can be safely carried in carry on? If im carrying 2 bags, can I have 1 lipo in each or do they consider 1 lipo per person?
I read somewhere that 1 lipo can be carried as part of checked in baggage as long as it is inside the phantom, is this true? Thanks a lot.

This is my understanding of how it works: If you want to check in a bag with a LiPo, you can ONLY do that if the LiPo is inside the Phantom.

In your carry on, there´s no limit since the Phantom 2 battery are under 100wH, they are 57.72wH (Inspire 1 = 99wH). But you need to secure them in a way that they can´t short cut.

 

[djifan]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Have anyone taken Phantom to India after the ban mentioned above was imposed ?
What does this ban actually mean?
Can you or can you not take through customs or is it just a fly ban or a ban on ownership ?
I am flying to India next week and would like to hear your opinion on take or not to take.
Thanks

Officially only drones are banned but phantom is not a drone, its a camera with many extra capabilities or at max a high end toy
Btw amazon india is still selling it. It would be best to hear from someone on the forum who has successfully taken it to India though.
Personally I have spoken to a German national who faced no issues at all. Please PM me for further details, Thanks

 

[neilnasdaq1]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Can you take your drone to Beijing, China on Air China? IAH - PEK

 

[Andrew303]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Headed to dominican republic In January for work. Thinking about bringing PV2+. Any issues there?

 

[jokeyjon]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Don't think about trying to take one to Egypt. I had ideas of some fab aerial footage of the pyramids, Abu Simbel, etc but it took a lot of negotiation for it not to be confiscated on the way in and at every flight I was held while various phone calls were made. I was told very clearly that if I flew it, I would be arrested.

 

[John J.]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Headed to dominican republic In January for work. Thinking about bringing PV2+. Any issues there?

Hi Andrew,

I arrived in Punta Cana on Dec. 22nd, came through customs no problem with my P2/Gimbal. Kept 3 lypos with me as carryon, the airline from Canada (Sunwing) would not allow my Tradecraft X2 case as carryon.

Ends up one of the main lobby managers here at my resort is an avid video enthusiast and has dreamed about owning a quadcopter for aerial filming. Needless to say he is eager to be my guide and car when we get out to more remote areas for filming in the next few days. Hoping to get out for 2 mornings to capture lots of footage. I'll update when I return to Canada early January.

- John

 

[JamesG]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Flew from Portugal to UK.

They insisted it was put in oversize baggage though so it "doesn't get thrown about quite as much" - fills me with confidence

Security did ask me to open it, so always have keys ready.

 

[gardenroute]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

I am from December 20 in Thailand, everything is fine, I flew on the Koh Chang Island, and also on a small desert island in the Gulf of Thailand, no problems.

I flew from Prague via Dubai, at security checkpoints always know the Phantom, they were interested in, but the problems did not

 

[thegoose]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Headed to dominican republic In January for work. Thinking about bringing PV2+. Any issues there?

Hi Andrew,

I arrived in Punta Cana on Dec. 22nd, came through customs no problem with my P2/Gimbal. Kept 3 lypos with me as carryon, the airline from Canada (Sunwing) would not allow my Tradecraft X2 case as carryon.

Ends up one of the main lobby managers here at my resort is an avid video enthusiast and has dreamed about owning a quadcopter for aerial filming. Needless to say he is eager to be my guide and car when we get out to more remote areas for filming in the next few days. Hoping to get out for 2 mornings to capture lots of footage. I'll update when I return to Canada early January.

- John

I also took a Phantom 2 with GoPro to the DR a couple of weeks ago. I flew into Santiago airport from Puerto Rico and was not stopped by customs for inspection. It seems as though if they do search you and find it the worse they would do is make you pay a tax on it (a local told me this). I flew it a couple of times in a nearby town called Moca and had no problems at all, although it did get a lot of (good) attention from people. Leaving Santiago I took it in my carry on and the security guys were very friendly and had no problems with it. Hope this helps.

 

[ExtraKim]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

How about St Thomas? My cruise have been changed and we are going to St Thomas instead of B.V.I.

 

[patriceeblanc]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Test

 

[yawnalot29]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

I have taken my P2V+ to the following countries and flown without any hassle of issues:

Mexico
Grand Cayman
Honduras
Belize
Thailand
Taiwan
Singapore
USA

 

[Clipper707]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Looks like Thailand is enacting some restrictive legislation.
http://tech.thaivisa.com/drones-fitted- ... land/3290/

 

[lg8215]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

This month, I traveled to Nassau Bahamas and Trinidad. Both were very easy to pass and did not even look at the Phantom going in or out of the countries. I would call both of these safe phantom friendly.

 

[Clipper707]

Cuba confiscates drone

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=109032

 

[djifan]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Safe to carry to India as on 10 Feb 2015. Keep checking new regulations though and don't ever make the mistake of calling it a drone if questioned - Its a camera!

 

[marc2503]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Hi lg8215,

I will be traveling to Peru with my DJI Inspire and was wondering if there is a chance to get your contact regarding the 5 days temporary use permit?

Looking forward to hearing from you!


Best,
Marc

 

[Clipper707]

Re: TRAVEL WARNING: Don't take your drone with you, even tou

Myanmar (Burma) may be confiscating. Comments left on my YouTube pages "how did you bring the drone into the country? ours was taken on entry."