Traveling with a drone??

[Rumbaar]

I travel extensively worldwide, and no airline allows checked bags to have LiPo batteries inside.

This isn't true, or at least for Australia, you can have a >100Wh battery in check luggage if it's actually installed into a/the device. Where the risk of short circuit is the issue.

Travelling safely with batteries and portable power packs

 

[SaigonDude]

This isn't true, or at least for Australia, you can have a >100Wh battery in check luggage if it's actually installed into a/the device. Where the risk of short circuit is the issue.

Travelling safely with batteries and portable power packs

There are always exceptions I dont dispute that because batteries that powerful are used in medical devices i.e. wheelchairs. IATA is kinda like the United Nations, and is full of politics. Not every country is a signatory for every IATA rule, and I normally take a look at the airlines' specific LiPo rules, before flying. They widely vary. The IATA document in my briefcase has helped me get thru many security checkpoints, when some officer starts asking questions, or needs to call their supervisor.

Just out of interest I read Qantas' regulations. They are pretty complicated, and you can check up to 160w in medical devices, if the battery is not easily removed. If it can be removed, it then goes in carry on, taped and protected. Cheers.

 

[Rumbaar]

Just out of interest I read Qantas' regulations. They are pretty complicated, and you can check up to 160w in medical devices, if the battery is not easily removed. If it can be removed, it then goes in carry on, taped and protected. Cheers.

Well we're clearly talking about >100Wh drone batteries on this forum, so medical devices and <160Wh batteries aren't much of an issue

 

[ScubaBob]

A generic sort of question, but I am wondering how to travel in the U.S. with my drone & 3 batteries, in a pelican case, on the airlines. Does TSA give travelers with drones any problems and is it better/ required to take it as carry-on or check it? What other regulations should I be concerned with? Thanks!

Others have answered this well so all I want to add is that I have some small Pelican style plastic cases with very secure snap-locking closures. I put a battery inside each one so that they are isolated and protected. In case one should start a fire it should quickly exhaust itself due to a lack of oxygen. Otherwise, I have had no problems and I go in and out of the US often and with my drone. I do bring a copy of my purchase receipt with me to show that I owned the drone before I came into the country (or left my home country).

 

[Reuter]

Last week I flew from Dallas to Minneapolis with a Mavic 2 Pro, four batteries and all the other equipment needed to fly my drone. I obviously hand carried it on the plane. I say obviously because you can't check the batteries anyway and why chance it at all? I sailed right through TSA in both directions. I was totally prepared to be searched in both directions but was not! I have found Minneapolis TSA to be a place that checks for anything out of the ordinary. I'm searched often just because of professional camera gear. I think TSA is used to seeing drones and related equipment and don't give it a second look.

 

[jashaff]

Carrying on my Mavic 2 Pro, three batteries plus all the extras in a Drone Hanger Pelican Case. Traveling from Sacramento to So. Cal. the TSA inspector was most interested in the drone as he said he flies as well. Nice to run across someone who knows and understands the equipment.

 

[Endeavor]

We have been to Mexico a few times over the last years and i have never had one issue with the drone and airlines. They never check the batteries or ask to open the case unless you forget to remove your tablet then they want you to remove that. I did get checked this last time only because I had 10lbs of crushed and polished glass which the wanted to verify was not drugs.

 

[DJI DelBoy]

Somewhere back in the mists of drone forum time, myths were created and every time someone asks about flying with drones, the same myths come out.



Contrary to what you'll read on the forum again and again, no airline and no air traffic authority asks for or recommends discharging your batteries for travel.
None recommend Lipo bags either.
No airport security checkin people will look at or ask about your battery's state of charge and they wouldn't know what a Lipo bag is if you asked them.
Lipo bags and discharging batteries are not required at all.
It's just a persistent forum myth.

Since the biggest Mavic battery is 59Wh this is irrelevant to a Mavic traveller.

Correct on all counts. How on earth will they have the time to check the percentage of battery life? They’d hold up a lot of passengers that way. As long as the battery is within the permitted capacity then you e got nothing to worry about.

As for Lipo bags I’ve never been queried in all my time of flying!

 

[ChuckNorrisUSAF]

I love coming back to this thread and reading the updates. I just traveled to Vegas. Packing my MP 2 with three batteries, all the accessories and a Smart Controller and iPad. I went through TSA and gave the guy a heads up that I had a Drone packed in my bag.

(I was packing a LowePro DroneGuard BP 250).

I simply unzipped the main flap, showed him and zipped it back up - he shoved it through the X-Ray and that’s it. No hassle, no second questions, no battery complaints.

Almost forgot to pull my iPad out...

That’s my travel experience. Don’t act like your packing something suspicious, don’t freak out when they handle your bag, don’t be a ****.

 

[Bofman51]

Here is the FAA ruling and the same ruling applies in SE Asia and Australia. Batteries must be carried on, not in checked baggage unless installed in a device.

 

[julius13]

A generic sort of question, but I am wondering how to travel in the U.S. with my drone & 3 batteries, in a pelican case, on the airlines. Does TSA give travelers with drones any problems and is it better/ required to take it as carry-on or check it? What other regulations should I be concerned with? Thanks!

I travel often with my drone, always carry on. To date, never a problem with TSA. The odds are though I will eventually encounter an agent who might not understand that batteries MUST be carry on, not in a checked bag.

 

[SpitFire]

I also travel with my MP. One thing nice about the MP is legs fold up nicely. Went thru TSA with no problem at all.
Put cameras and 3 extra battery's for MP in a Lowepro carry on, specially designed for camera gear. Was part of my other gear, video camera, DSLR, osmo 2, and my MP no problem. I discharge my Lipo battery's to 25 % or less,
and keep them in Lipo Bags. For my personal safety and others on the plane.

 

[mqmitch]

Traveling was a breeze with airlines both in and out of the country. The only thing sometimes is finding a place you can fly it.