Air Travel & Carrying Equipment

We've shipped our stuff before and picked it up when we got there. The last trip to San Antonio, we found a great company (G4, right by the airport) that we rented tripods, tripod on dolly and other accessories and we carried on our TS, scanner and controller. That was the best way to go IMO.

Shipping scares the hell out of me. If it doesn’t arrive on time that’s a massive cost.

I don’t get the idea of renting accessories, it’d just be nice to find a permanent solution as we literally fly to a new city every week, some of which rentals would be a logistical issue.

Talk to the airline. I'm not sure of all the ins and outs, but my son, also a surveyor, has travelled with his equipment. It involves some preplanning and bundling his stuff up in Saranwrap for shipping.

Yes, look at the guidelines for the airlines for everything about limits and also battery types and limits. (I think as long as the batteries are installed inside the total station, ok... there are rules for extra exposed batteries).

Maybe look into sports type containers such has golf bag shipping/travel containers.

Keep in mind the airlines can lose your luggage or delay them too.

Either way, it's all very expensive and risky.

Fedex next day air is $$$$$$, the heavier and bigger it is... each.

Shipping via Fedex Ground takes a bit longer depending where it goes and riskier than Air, but hell of a lot cheaper. Always bank at least 1 extra day delay if delivery issues.

You may need to ship the bulkier items via ground early on and take the pricey delicate stuff with you if carry on size or checked under.

Some things may be best rented depending if the money is right.

Good luck, it's gonna take some planning to head off pitfalls.

I ship my gear by air on a semi-regular basis. The trick is to avoid the baggage gorillas from doing their thing by shipping it as air cargo instead of extra baggage. For this you will need to go through the hassle of becoming a known shipper for each airline you plan to utilize as required by the TSA. This is a bit of a pain since the they need to send someone to your place of business as part of the process. Why the TSA requires this for each carrier I will never understand.

Once that is complete, you just take the kit to the air-cargo terminal where it is inspected, measured, weighed and put on a pallet. When the plane lands, they unload your stuff and place it on a pallet where you pick it up at the air-cargo facility about an hour after the flight lands. You cannot ship any lithium batteries this way, not even in the instrument. Those all must go with you in your carry on. As for cost, I shipped 3 sets of legs, a rifle case containing the rod and bipod and my MS60 from PDX to SFO for under $100.

90% of our work is in remote areas, so shipping is the norm. If flying commercial you are limited to the carrier's weight and policies. Since a local sporting goods store went out of business years ago we have been using snowboard/ski bags for the tripods, bi-pods, and rods. With a 50lb limit and wheels, they work well. Prior to that we used golf bags, but the bags took up too much of our alloted 50lbs. We use Action-Packers as they are always on sale, dry, last a few years, and O.K. to handle at 50lbs. We get creative about stacking on airport carts. The experienced pros (mechanics) use stackable rolling portable tool boxes, with Milwaukee being the obvious dominator. I do see single men handling large akward loads with ease.

We are known shippers and use air-freight often. As John mentioned it goes on a pallet and doen not get thrown around as much. With the increased costs of over-weight and excess bags on commercial carriers, air-freight has become a good deal. We go to camps that require expensive logistics and are around for a limited time, so we usually ship two sets of equipment with different carriers when possible. It is a bother and a cost, but so is all insurance. As has been mentioned, know the rules! Lithium batteries are being enforced and will stop your shipment if found in violation. Den

As for cost, I shipped 3 sets of legs, a rifle case containing the rod and bipod and my MS60 from PDX to SFO for under $100.

That is CHEAP! GO THIS ROUTE!!!! Gonna be a hassle either way!

We use Action-Packers as they are always on sale, dry, last a few years, and O.K. to handle at 50lbs.

Thank you! Beats the hell out of Pelicans for not so critical "stuff".

a rifle case containing the rod and bipod

Ummm, where does the rifle go?

Yeah, it gets opened a lot. I just leave the collection of TSA notifications in the case.

I am on a trip this week where I had to bring three R10 receivers, one aluminum tripod, one magnetic roof mount, one 2m rover pole with tripod legs, and two starlink terminals. This is because on my previous trip to this project two weeks ago there were a few points where I could not do RTX due to very tall pines, so I have to set a base in the open with a starlink terminal, connect that to an NTrip server in my office. Then the rover also connects to the office via the second starlink terminal and gets RTK corrections. The third receiver is if I need to set another base for woods, but so far I have been able to get woods points from the not too far away base. Right now I am at a location where I cannot get RTX at all, so I am running a static session for 60 minutes first in a small clearing, then I will RTK (radio) off of that to get three points. No cell, no VRS. 

All in a golf bag and my suitcase and my computer backpack. Checked baggage, no fees because of my airline status (AA EP)

 Having to make the second trip really sucks because it is 15 hours each way (three flights then a 3 hour drive) to do one day of surveying. So three full days. My original plan was 2 days of travel and three days of survey, but now it is 4 days of travel and three days of survey.

It's not just a job, it's an adventure. Last year we had a similar project in this area, but the National Park Service provided a helicopter for most of the points 

I will chime in and also vote for air cargo, less expensive than UPS and FedEx, etc. I ship the day prior to my flight, pickup in the air cargo terminal and you can usually drive right up in the rental, and they bring your stuff out with a forklift. Not trying to move all your gear though a passenger terminal normally is a big plus too vs baggage. The one exception in the USA I found was Portland, ME, no cargo terminal when I landed there 10 years or so ago. Also had all my cases on the baggage carousel in Norfolk, VA one time and they DO have a large cargo terminal, stuff does go wrong obviously. On the Portland, ME destination some person who shouldn't have been paid to think that hard, changed my destination to Portland, OR and my cargo went from Central Oregon to Seattle, and they were tucking it back to Portland, OR instead of onto the Portland, ME flight. I track very carefully to eliminate those kinds of things from derailing a work schedule.

I will say at some smaller airports there isn't a separate air cargo terminal, and it goes though the same rough baggage treatment as luggage. Pack well in a case you don't mind getting damaged, yes, I have had handles ripped off Pelican cases (that lifetime warranty works good though), the feet/ribs broken, etc. TSA leaving out foam inserts during inspection, etc. I would be reluctant to ship optical equipment, might see if that could be carried on by hand.

Finally, shop airlines cargo rates. Last I checked Alaska had much cheaper cargo rates than other carriers (that serve my area). Going from Oregon to destinations like Norfolk, VA it took Alaska airlines to Atlanta usually and then Delta up to Norfolk. Coming west, Alaska doesn't go to some of the east coast destinations, so ship home on Delta where it stays the entire flight. Almost double the money coming home vs going outbound. I surmise Alaska is less expensive because they specialize in a lot of freight going to and from Alaska and are well versed in air cargo.