Flying with GPS as a carry on

I haven't had any problems. Be prepared for them to wipe it with a certain bomb detecting material.

No problems at all, do it all the time. They *may* select it for further screening as Adam said, but not always. Tripods/poles/rods can be checked as baggage in a golf bag.

Johns right, certain airports didn't give it a second look. Others gave it a close inspection.

On the subject of batteries. I don't know how much this is a local airport interpretations of regulations, but I have gone the extra step in applying tape across the contacts on my extra batteries (R8's) that are stored together in check in luggage. We fly alot up here, and some folks have had a case held up because of concern with multiple batteries sitting in the same pelican case sleeve. They were told to put tape across contacts. I have continued to do this as a practice.

I'm not sure if we can talk about practical stuff..:p

Seriously.. Good info. Thanks, Tom

I had a recent nightmare experience bringing a Trimble 5600 back from New Zealand to Fiji. It was checked in luggage in a single outer box containing the instrument in its case and clothes. Security pulled it out as they identified "an unknown instrument". I arrived in Fiji and the box did not. They later claimed it was because of the battery (old black Ni brick) in the 5600 case. I told them their regs only apply to wet and Li batteries, not Ni. They said yes that's right, it had a battery so we took it off, I said it's a Ni not a Li, they said yes it's a battery ... after a few iterations of this I said please keep the battery and send me back my TS, and that's exactly what they did. I did point out that the same instrument/battery had just traveled UK-LAX-Fiji. They said USA has less strict policies. I said ....

Anyway it looks like Li batteries are difficult to get air freighted so I suggest caution.

I have flown in the past with LiIon batteries inside the GPS units, but my understanding is the regs have recently severely cracked down, may have to take the batteries out, tape them and fly them in your pocket, I haven't tried to fly with gear in about 24 months so this may be dated info.

SHG

Shelby is right about the regs changing. Not just the regs but more importantly the irregular and haphazard application of the regs. TSA doesn't seem to care if you have a carry on bag full of loose li batteries - not that I'd ever travel like that. We have a small pelican case dedicated to carry on for batteries. It holds a dozen or so and it looks like something dangerous from a Bond flick. It's been used dozens of times and no problems to date. No matter how well you know the regulations - even if you print them out and carry them with you - if the agent/handler doesn't feel comfortable with the situation - you lose.

Just like Richard we've flown non-hazardous batteries one way as checked baggage and couldn't fly them back checked because the smaller airport with fewer staff, less haz-mat training, no other experienced staff to confer with - they were afraid to mis-interpret the regs - better safe than sorry - can't really fault them but I do wish they had better training or could skype with someone who had expertise and could look at the batteries and then proceed according to the proper regs.

Richard Imrie, post: 400398, member: 11256 wrote: I had a recent nightmare experience bringing a Trimble 5600 back from New Zealand to Fiji. It was checked in luggage in a single outer box containing the instrument in its case and clothes. Security pulled it out as they identified "an unknown instrument". I arrived in Fiji and the box did not. They later claimed it was because of the battery (old black Ni brick) in the 5600 case. I told them their regs only apply to wet and Li batteries, not Ni. They said yes that's right, it had a battery so we took it off, I said it's a Ni not a Li, they said yes it's a battery ... after a few iterations of this I said please keep the battery and send me back my TS, and that's exactly what they did. I did point out that the same instrument/battery had just traveled UK-LAX-Fiji. They said USA has less strict policies. I said ....

Anyway it looks like Li batteries are difficult to get air freighted so I suggest caution.

Hey I'm taking a vacation to the Cook Islands in March, any cool surveying things to see there?

Patrick McGranaghan, post: 400652, member: 8212 wrote: Hey I'm taking a vacation to the Cook Islands in March, any cool surveying things to see there?

Yes there probably is, but I'm sure there's other things to do. We did a condition report in around 2006 for the main harbour, including a bathymetric survey. I wasn't into land surveying at the time, but I see that there is a SEAFRAME instrument there, which is one of the pacific sea level monitoring stations and has been running since the early 1990's. Because it is precise stuff it is regularly surveyed. From memory, Cook Islands is "administered" by New Zealand, and most of the surveying and other things relate to NZ and Australia. Here are a couple of links to surveys in the harbour area and SEAFRAME:

http://www.bom.gov.au/pacific/projects/pslm/index.shtml

ftp://ftp.ga.gov.au/geodesy-outgoing/gnss/pub/SPSLCMP/14-7573-1%20Record%202014-15%20Cook%20Is%202012%20WCAG.pdf

ftp://ftp.ga.gov.au/geodesy-outgoing/gnss/pub/SPSLCMP/PreviousLevellingSurveyReports/COOK%202002.pdf

Shelby H. Griggs PLS, post: 400600, member: 335 wrote: I have flown in the past with LiIon batteries inside the GPS units, but my understanding is the regs have recently severely cracked down, may have to take the batteries out, tape them and fly them in your pocket, I haven't tried to fly with gear in about 24 months so this may be dated info.

SHG

Shelby is correct, I have run into nothing but trouble with Li batteries as of late. Until about a year and a half ago it was no problem to shit them, air cargo, it the case with the instruments. Then on one fateful morning at LAX the air cargo folks freaked out. They insisted I needed to have stickers on the case stating that they contained LiIon batteries. The real problem was that they did not have the stickers. I ended up with about a dozen of the things in my carry on to a stage rally I was navigating in Mexico, not my first choice. Fast forward to this year, the cargo guys at PDX gave me a quick tutorial on shipping the damn things. It really depends on the carrier and plane the stuff will be sitting in. For Alaska, it can go in the cargo hold of larger planes such as 737s but must have the stickers and you are limited to the number of batteries, I think one in the instrument and one spare. Per the FAA this even goes for your camera and laptop. For any of the smaller planes they must go on carry. I have just made it a policy to carry the batteries with me on the plane me.
As for the instrument case, if you take it a carry on, make sure to remove all of your tools, I once had a TSA agent take my 3mm allen wrench. He did crack up when I asked if they thought I was going to take the plane apart 3mm nut by 3mm nut. Still lost the thing though. And just be ready to be picked for extra review.

Was on Jetblue last week. I think airlines are wigged out by the Galaxy Note 7 fire issue. The don't like the LI batteries.

Here is Jetblue's policy (your airlines policy may vary)

http://help.jetblue.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/webcgi.exe?St=87,E=0000000000190603339,K=7797,Sxi=5,Case=obj(387907)

Joe the Surveyor, post: 400733, member: 118 wrote: Was on Jetblue last week. I think airlines are wigged out by the Galaxy Note 7 fire issue. The don't like the LI batteries.

Here is Jetblue's policy (your airlines policy may vary)

http://help.jetblue.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/webcgi.exe?St=87,E=0000000000190603339,K=7797,Sxi=5,Case=obj(387907)

A fire mid flight is something to be wigged out by for sure, I don't blame them, but some reasonable rules would help too, ONLY Samsungs have exploded AFAIK, never a professional grade surveying equipment with protected batteries.

SHG

TTT - I am flying to Twin Cites this weekend and plan to take an R980 Rover, TSC510 with me in a single Trimble case as a carry on.  Anyone have recent experiences?

I have flown a handful of times in the last 12 months through 8 different major airports with Trimble RTK. Including the lithium ion batteries. Per regulations these items cannot be checked. I have never been questioned when going through security except for one time. They didn't know what the equipment was and asked what it was used for but this was after they had already cleared me. They were just curious.

I fly all the time with usually two R10's, sometimes an Alloy as well. Never a problem. I carry the R10 batteries (usually 5) in my carryon backpack. R10's usually go in checked bag, but sometimes in my carryon if I am just going for a day or two. Having Precheck helps. 

Coming out of Ecuador I have been pulled aside twice for extra scrutiny.