Travel with survey equipment.
Has anyone been through airport security with an instrument lately as a carry-on.
I have spent a few thousand getting instruments adjusted becuase of baggage handlers and now I make it a policy to carry my robot with me. Need to travel across country and was wondering if anyone had done it recently?
thanks- 8 Replies
Ship it FedEx
Yep. No problems. TSA will want to swab it and may want to have you open the case for a better luck.
One word of advice: do NOT refer to it as a “gun”. TSA will make cavities to search.
I’ve sent many by bus.
I had my plumb bob confiscated in 2005…
DDSM
The best way to ship equipment is as air cargo on a passenger carrier. You have to jump through the TSA hoops once to become a known shipper for each carrier you plan to use (no comment on the lack of synchronized list). Then you just drop the gear off at the air cargo facility on your way to the flight. This way they put it on a pallet and handle it with care. We have been doing this for years. As a note, we always check our adjustments any time the gear travels.
Depending on the aircraft, a robot case may or may not fit in the overhead bin.
Best way is as John says, air cargo, HOWEVER, they do NOT palletize your gear from my experience, in fact if going from most smaller airports, 100 pounds maximum, no forklifts, etc., so it goes the same as luggage and gets abused the same, if you pack everything correctly, it should still be OK.
I have made 4-5 cross country trips, most with three legs in the last 18 months, no damage at all to my gear, the cases have taken a bit of abuse though 🙁
The exception to the no pallet is heavy items, we ship an aerial LiDAR sensor and have that in a plastic shipping crate / pallet unit AND it is heavy enough they have to load with a forklift, BUT that isn’t going to get loaded on a commuter flight, even the 70-80 passenger CRJ’s are too small, only the big jets get forklift loaded.
Check around on air cargo rates, FWIW, they vary a ton, best I have found is Alaska, I shipped (3) pieces, 203 pounds from the west coast to the east coast in January, $226.
As John mentioned you have to apply, go through a bit of a background / security check and possibly pay a fee to get set up, I am set up with three airlines, everyone requires a separate “known shipper” application.
SHG
I travel quite a bit and honestly it depends where you are going. If we go international then we take the equipment with us on the plane. It is expensive that route, but is way easier for customs reasons than using any commercial package delivery company. If we stay domestic then we use FedEx. They are waaaayyy cheaper than paying delta (or whomever) to carry your boxes. Word of caution either way you decide to go. Invest in a heavier case for the case of your equipment. I have found that if it can be picked up it can be thrown, and they will throw it. We use Georgia Case. they are pricey, but waaaaayyy better than those crappy boxes sold on ebay for about half the price. I could go into a lot of detail as to why to use Georgia case, but I won’t, Just trust me when I say it is worth the money to protect your equipment going to a job. We didn’t for a long time and we had about a 50/50 shot at the equipment working, since we have used bigger more durable cases, the equipment works all of the time now. Pelican also makes good stuff, problem with them is that some of their handles break in route, but we use them also. Have a contingency plan for your equipment. If the stuff you bring doesn’t work then what?
Can you give me any specific info on the Georgia cases you use.
Thanks
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