Am I allowed to carry the drone with me on an international flight?

[saudio]

I thought GPS equally covered the globe except the poles.

 

[Chris23]

Purchase a LiPo safe bag for added peace of mind. Plus, showing security/staff/pilots/cabin crew that you've put a bit of thought into transporting batteries might give them some comfort if they were on the fence.

 

[Raider Chris]

Flew many times no issues one tsa loved it ask lots of questions wants to buy one [emoji1433][emoji1433]


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[Nathan Hoover]

I've flown dozens of times all over with Phantoms and a few times with Mavic. No issue anywhere. Nowadays drones are not so strange to security people. 3 years ago I had a TSA guy ask if my batteries were charged up. I said no and he was really sad as he wanted me to fly around so he could see it. I doubt that will happen these days. Watch out as certain countries are sticky, but the Mavic is so small they won't care.

 

[triumphrider]

Can we just add a disclaimer to the home page that says, yes you can fly with your Mavic, please use the search option

 

[triumphrider]

Depends on many things. The pilot of the plane has the last word. Even if you follow all rules and/or regulation.

Your batteries must be charged to a certain minimum %. The must be individually packaged, in a special packaging. There are other rules and regulations that you should read on with the airline and the country youre going to.


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I don't think this may be entirely true. The LiPo batteries meet FAA/TSA and so far, all airlines requirements to be allowed as carry on. Therefore the pilot needs to have a really good reason for saying it's not allowed. The captain has a lot of power to make decisions, but he/she still can't make up their own rules based on personal opinion that override their airline and/or the government rules and regulations. Well they could, but there would be reprocusions if you filed a complaint.
There is also no regulation that the batteries must be discharged to a certain % and packaged individually. You just need to cover the terminals to prevent them from touching each other. You could throw 4 batteries in a single bag if you wanted if you had the terminals protected.

 

[Smokewagon]

What are the rules in terms of flying with the drone? Is it allowed? Will I have trouble in security?

I don't want to put it in my heavy luggage because it's a delicate thing, and I've had expensive **** stolen from my heavy luggage in international flights.

Have you guys traveled with the drone? Just asking before I get put on the terror watch list...

Just came back from Mexico no problem. Has to be in your carry on only!

 

[alexanderguelph]

Also good practice to carry them in a lipo charging/travel bag and have the battery terminals covered so they can't short out. The bags are cheap and they help to stop the spread of a fire if one of them ruptures. It's good practice to charge inside them too. They hobby shop owner who sold this to me said he had clients whose houses had burned down because they were charging lipo batteries unattended. I have faith in the Mavic's intelligent batteries but since I have the bag it doesn't hurt to charge/store them in here.

Also, for good measure, I carry the MSDS sheets for the batteries in case any airport authorities want to check.

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[Smokewagon]

I'm pretty sure the safest place for the batteries, is with you in your carry on. Most airlines will not allow you to check baggage containing Lipo's, and I wouldn't want to be on a plane that has Lipo batteries in the cargo hold(not that I would know for sure anyway).

Do not put lipo batteries in CHECKED LUGGAGE.

 

[Cyberpower678]

I'm sitting in the airport right now, with my Mavic in my included shoulder bag. No issues. Never store your batteries in your luggage. The low pressure in the cargo hold can cause them to explode.

 

[ElGuapo]

Just came back from a trip abroad to Costa Rica with the Mavic, no issues at all. If anything Custom Agents in CR were curious as to the shape of the drone. My wife's purse was pulled aside for additional screening. As others have posted, the only thing was wrap the batteries individually in lipo safe bags. I even brought the purchase receipt in case it was needed at U.S. Customs coming back to the country but it was not necessary

Have a nice trip and share the video footage in the forum.

 

[jthaw]

Has anyone brought their drone to Jamaica. If so did anyone have any problems.



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[ascension]

I'm sitting in the airport right now, with my Mavic in my included shoulder bag. No issues. Never store your batteries in your luggage. The low pressure in the cargo hold can cause them to explode.

The cargo compartments on airliners are pressurized.

 

[Cyberpower678]

The cargo compartments on airliners are pressurized.

Are they? I didn't think they were.


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[Wysiwyg]

I just returned on a trip to Africa. I had zero issues both in the states, London Heathrow or Jomo Kenyatta and Wilson Airport in Kenya. Yes, I know Kenya has strict drone laws but I knew the areas where I wanted to fly were either private or were extremely remote. I received permission from the proper authorities where I flew. In fact all TSA agents in Wyoming and New York were very keen on seeing it. As were the agents in London. As usually customs in Kenya didn't bat an eye (used to live in Nairobi so I knew it would be easy).

Just make sure to drain all your batts to 20%-30% and carry them on. I put the props in my checked baggage just in case they thought they were too sharp.

How did you go about getting permission from the authorities? What was the process like? Do you have to know "special people" to even stand a chance?

 

[ascension]

Are they? I didn't think they were.


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Yes they are.

 

[Daniel Marlin]

Has anyone brought their drone to Jamaica. If so did anyone have any problems.

I am also wondering if anyone has gone to Jamaica with no issues. I will be flying Jet Blue.
Also what size Lipo bags should fit the Mavic batteries??

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[Robbyg]

Has anyone brought their drone to Jamaica. If so did anyone have any problems.



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Yes and you will have a problem with Customs duty. They will ask for roughly 50% of the value of the drone as duty. You can argue that you are taking it back out of the country. At that point you will have to fill out temporary clearance Waiver and pay the money (CASH) which they tell you will be returned to you when you show your receipt on departure. On departure you show the receipt and they are supposed to get a customs agent over to inspect the items serial numbers and model numbers to see if they match the receipt. If they match they will give you back your money.

That's all in theory. In reality they will hold you up for an hour waiting to do the paper work when you arrive and then on departure they will make you wait so long for the customs agent to arrive that you will either have to miss your plane or kiss your money goodbye.

They do have a "nothing to declare line" but if they decide to spot check you I suggest you watch "Midnight Express" to prepare yourself for what awaits you. No just kidding! If they catch you in the Nothing to declare line with it, they will make you pay full duty on it plus anything else they can charge you duty on and you can completely forget about asking for the waiver.

Also do not lie about the value of the Mavic. They use Amazon to look up the price of everything.

Also forget flying on the properties of all inclusive hotels. You will need to rent a car and find a location to fly.

Sorry to be the bearer of that bad news, but many people do walk right in through the nothing to declare line and have no problems, but i cannot condone that on a forum.

Rob

 

[siwady]

Anyone has experience with Turkish airlines? I'm heading to the airport in 2 hours and I have my drone, batteries and a DSLR in my backpack...

I have a long layover in Istanbul where I'm thinking of leaving the airport for a couple hours then going to the states.

Tried calling them to check yesterday but the lady didn't know jack s***.

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[Daniel Marlin]

Yes and you will have a problem with Customs duty. They will ask for roughly 50% of the value of the drone as duty. You can argue that you are taking it back out of the country. At that point you will have to fill out temporary clearance Waiver and pay the money (CASH) which they tell you will be returned to you when you show your receipt on departure. On departure you show the receipt and they are supposed to get a customs agent over to inspect the items serial numbers and model numbers to see if they match the receipt. If they match they will give you back your money.

That's all in theory. In reality they will hold you up for an hour waiting to do the paper work when you arrive and then on departure they will make you wait so long for the customs agent to arrive that you will either have to miss your plane or kiss your money goodbye.

They do have a "nothing to declare line" but if they decide to spot check you I suggest you watch "Midnight Express" to prepare yourself for what awaits you. No just kidding! If they catch you in the Nothing to declare line with it, they will make you pay full duty on it plus anything else they can charge you duty on and you can completely forget about asking for the waiver.

Also do not lie about the value of the Mavic. They use Amazon to look up the price of everything.

Also forget flying on the properties of all inclusive hotels. You will need to rent a car and find a location to fly.

Sorry to be the bearer of that bad news, but many people do walk right in through the nothing to declare line and have no problems, but i cannot condone that on a forum.

Rob

I have read that this only applies to new items still in boxes not used equipment are you saying that is false? I am going to call the airport to confirm this though. Also there is a special form that you can fill out at a local CBP office that exempts you from duties.