Flying with Crawlers

[meffie]

Hey can any of you guy's out there who have flown with your crawlers chime in.

I'm going to be flying to nats this year, and I'm wondering how you packed them. I would prefer to carry on just because we all know how luggage is treated.

Did anyone have any issue bringing a crawler as a carry on? If so, how far did you have to break it down and did you get any hassle over it?

Thanks so much.

[k7zpj]

I use a Pelican 1620 case that I got used. The case will fit in the overhead luggage rack.
It strong enough so that you can put in checked luggage without any issues.

[meffie]

Yah I don't have access to a hard case hence why I asked about carry on. I was more thinking a backpack. But thanks for the input.

Anyone else?

[jdacus]

I took my berg from Nevada to New York not as a carry on. Put electrical tape or clear tape over the lipo or nimh battery ports and i just took the tires off and packed it around my cloths. Even my fragile ancient stick radio i put in there. Nothing was broken.

[gottorque]

I packed 2 scalers in a carry on suitcase , with tapped batteries and remotes and had no problems getting through security. I just let an agent know i had rc cars and that the batts are taped in a iipo sac. On the return trip they swabbed my lipo sac but otherwise easy as pie. Remember to pack your tools in your check in bag

[meffie]

Originally Posted by gottorque

I packed 2 scalers in a carry on suitcase , with tapped batteries and remotes and had no problems getting through security. I just let an agent know i had rc cars and that the batts are taped in a iipo sac. On the return trip they swabbed my lipo sac but otherwise easy as pie. Remember to pack your tools in your check in bag

Cool thank you sir sir

[Burntnuts]

I just flew from Kasas City to Reno with a switch in Salt lake City. I had a Losi Micro in my check bag. I put it all in a small cardboard box with all the battrys removed and had no problems at all. They didnt even inspect it, which suprised me.

[Harvo]

However you pack it, you have to be able to open and show it if they ask. Some do. To make things quick, I used a carry on bag, and cut some foam up to pack around the crawler. I used a lipo sac for the batteries and I never once had to explain what they were or even open the sac.

It was easier than I thought it would be. Take the battery out of the radio too.

[meffie]

Super, thanks all for the info

[DickyT]

I carry a backpack with radio, batteries in a lipo sack, spare parts, and my charger. I strap the rig to the outside of the pack. Once on the plane I put the bag in the overhead compartment and the rig under the seat in front of me.

Be sure to check your tools, they will be viewed as weapons.

See you in Bama!

[Nvghostrider]

Thanks for all the answers to the OPs post. Flying on Saturday and this is a huge help.

[Olle P]

I just got back from a trip to Iceland and had no problems whatsoever with airport security and customs at Arlanda (Stockholm) and Keflavik (Reykjavik), partly thanks to some advice from this thread.

What I did was to divide the parts:
Checked in charger, power supply, tools, body, body clips (140mm long) and wheels. On the outbound trip I also had the tires, bead lock rings and screws separate from the rims to allow customs easy access to the wheel weights that could look suspicious on x-ray:

Since customs didn't check my bags I skipped that part on the return trip.

In the carry-on I had:
A LiPo bag with the batteries, taken out by me prior to going through x-ray.
The transmitter, with some batteries removed.
The chassis, presented separately through x-ray.

Airport security didn't even raise an eyebrow...