Taking on airplane during traveling

[Hyduke]

I am sure many have done this but I would like to know more. I am taking a trip to Florida next month and want to bring my MP with. Can you board with the drone? Any regulation on certain airlines that you need to take into consideration? Does it count as a carry-on? Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been asked before.

 

[BD0G]

You actually have to have it in Carry On luggage since it will have the batteries with it. If you place it in checked luggage there can be no batteries with it in checked luggage. They may inspect it at the TSA checkpoint. It is a good idea to place a strip of electrical tape over the battery connectors. You can even go aggro and get some 3 D printed battery caps and LiPo explosion proof bags , but lots of people consider that overdoing it.

 

[dport177]

Do a search. Plenty on this topic. That said, I travel every other week for work (and once a month for recreation). The ONLY time I was stopped in an airport was last week in Long Beach, CA. TSA asked what was in my bag as they pointed to an object on the x-ray (or whatever you call it). I told them it was my mavic pro drone. They asked me to pull it out because they didn't want to damage it themselves. I pulled it out, they swiped it with a paper, and they proceeded to ask too many questions for their own personal knowledge..."oh, so cool, what brand, how does it fly, etc".

Been to Thailand, Hong Kong, and about 10 US states in the last 2 months, including Florida...never an issue with having my drone in carry-on bag. Do not put mavic pro in a checked bag unless you take out the battery. Lithium ion batteries can not go on checked bags.

Best of luck.

 

[787steve]

I am sure many have done this but I would like to know more. I am taking a trip to Florida next month and want to bring my MP with. Can you board with the drone? Any regulation on certain airlines that you need to take into consideration? Does it count as a carry-on? Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been asked before.

You actually have to have it in Carry On luggage since it will have the batteries with it. If you place it in checked luggage there can be no batteries with it in checked luggage. They may inspect it at the TSA checkpoint. It is a good idea to place a strip of electrical tape over the battery connectors. You can even go aggro and get some 3 D printed battery caps and LiPo explosion proof bags , but lots of people consider that overdoing it.

Ditto to BD0G. Just got back from Hawaii with my Mavic. Carried on Mavic in it's case, in my backpack. Not a glance from anyone at TSA or anywhere else. There may be a limit to the number of batteries you can carry on. I only had two.

 

[BD0G]

Do a search. Plenty on this topic. That said, I travel every other week for work (and once a month for recreation). The ONLY time I was stopped in an airport was last week in Long Beach, CA. TSA asked what was in my bag as they pointed to an object on the x-ray (or whatever you call it). I told them it was my mavic pro drone. They asked me to pull it out because they didn't want to damage it themselves. I pulled it out, they swiped it with a paper, and they proceeded to ask too many questions for their own personal knowledge..."oh, so cool, what brand, how does it fly, etc".

Been to Thailand, Hong Kong, and about 10 US states in the last 2 months, including Florida...never an issue with having my drone in carry-on bag. Do not put mavic pro in a checked bag unless you take out the battery. Lithium ion batteries can not go on checked bags.

Best of luck.

That paper swipe you speak of is used to detect explosive/bomb making material residue. Just FYI.

 

[MadValley]

There may be a limit to the number of batteries you can carry on. I only had two.

I just went through TSA with my MP, controller, three MP batteries, two DSLR camera batteries, two action camera batteries, a small handheld video camera with a fixed battery, plus 12 NiCads. They didn't even slow down the belt.

 

[DomoDan]

I travel a lot, and in my backpack I always have:
Mavic Pro
3 Batteries for it
iPad Pro
MacBook Pro
2 x 10,000 mah battery for charging stuff
Bose Headphones
Apple AirPods

Other miscellaneous stuff that nobody would care about.

I’ve traveled all throughout the United States and Europe without ever having an issue.

 

[Dgardner007]

Thanks Guys for sharing this eases my mind about carrying my drone on the plane for i have a trip coming up to Westin Florida, speaking of which has any one had problems with any flight restrictions in that area????

 

[ftttu]

TSA didn't even make me open up my styrofoam DJI Phantom 4 case when I went through the checkpoint. My airline didn't seem to care when I boarded, either. Still, I may get me some of those protective battery bags just for piece of mind.

 

[DomoDan]

Thanks Guys for sharing this eases my mind about carrying my drone on the plane for i have a trip coming up to Westin Florida, speaking of which has any one had problems with any flight restrictions in that area????

I flew all around New Smyrna Beach without issue.

 

[crazygordon297]

Go east and fly your drone on the coast. Weston is only houses and the everglades. Enjoy and have fun.

 

[Jamie.B]

That paper swipe you speak of is used to detect explosive/bomb making material residue. Just FYI.

Doesn't it also detect drugs as well

 

[shark4985]

Also, for the safety of the batteries, DJI tells you to discharge them to <5% for transport (Battery Safety Guide - Transport - #6). I did some research on the forums and other websites about lithium batteries and decided to only go down to about 25% charge and had no problems. The FAA requires that you cover the terminals. I bought some silicone covers designed for Mavic batteries on Amazon that work great. I have been asked some basic questions by TSA regarding the FAA safety rules, but never had a problem carrying on the Mavic with all the accessories.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/mav...lligent+Flight+Battery+Safety+Guides+(EN).pdf
Pack Safe – Lithium ion and lithium metal batteries, spare (uninstalled)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N9FASEL/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[DomoDan]

I’ve always flown with my batteries charged and either in the Mavic, or in the factory box that it came in.

 

[BD0G]

Doesn't it also detect drugs as well

"
When TSA take a sample from you hands with a swab, they look for presence of explosives particles. After they take the samples, the swab is placed in explosives particle detector machine, which, as the name implies, then searches for traces of explosives.

Certain types of these machines can also be utilized to search for presence of traces of drugs, however, it is not widely used for such purposes."