Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

I am visiting my family in a few weeks and I was wondering if anyone has taken their R/C on a plane. It will not be carried on but put under the plane. What to do with the lipo batterys? Should I pack it up with my clothes? Take the batterys out of the Radio? TIA,

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

I read another post somewhere that stated the batteries should be kept in a carry on bag.

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/..._batteries.pdf

That's the info you need.

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

I flew sown to reno last summer and carried my scx10 on oard batteries mounted inside and all metal parts left alone and put it above as a carry on. I also had a bigger suitcase with my wraith and my shafty comp rig wheels removed and all tools in one pouch inside suitcase padded with clothes for protection and had no problems. (Batteries were hard mounted in all rigs)


Sent from the clouds

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

TSA does not allow uninstalled lipos in checked bags:
The TSA Blog: Travel Tips Tuesday: Safely Packing Batteries for Your Trip

I am one of the lucky people to have a 4PKS and a hard carrying case.
So, I tape up the ends of all the batteries (elec tape), put a rubber band around the wires and put them all in my radio case with my radio.
I've never had an issue and have done this several times all over the USA.

I beat the crap out of my trucks on the course so I check them.
If you do this you should definitely expect TSA to rummage through the bag/box.
So try to make it easy to get to the truck.

If you opt to carry the truck on, they will run it through the X-ray, swab it all over and probably let you through with no further issue.
When I did that in the past I pulled the wheels & tires off and stuffed it in a book bag with the wheels & tires loose.
Several times, no issues.


IF you happen to wheel on hunting grounds ... clean the crap out of the truck.
If you don't, you might have trace amounts of gun powder in the dirt and guess who frowns on that?
;-)

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

When I flew to nationals in Arizona a couple of years ago, I put my comp rigs and lipos in a backpack and carried them on. The TSA looked at my bag a little longer than the others but they let it pass. The way I saw it was I could buy more clothes if something happened to my checked bag, but the crawlers would be way harder to replace. Another issue to remember is the checked baggage compartment isn't pressurized. Lipos won't be the same after a flight in a non pressurized compartment. They will die quickly soon after.

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

I was just in Cabelas and found a Pelican case that looks like it would hold my rig with the tires dismounted and my radio. Could put the batteries in there too. May look into that route for carry-on.

RC4WD Team Driver*Krawl Off-Road

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

If you can you can ship your car ahead to your final destination but if you don't want to I recommend making your car a carry-on as well as the "valuable" stuff just in case. Always make sure batteries are *OUT* of the item. I always make sure the bottom of the radio is off to show it has no batteries inside. That said put it on the X-Ray and get ready for them to drool over it :lmao:.

I second all your batteries, lipo or not, in a lipo fire proof bag. Besides that make sure however you pack your bag that the batteries will NOT get crushed just in case they do have to gate-check your bag. And make sure you put something over the battery ends. You could take some heat-shrink tubing and make some custom battery covers or just even some sticky tape. Big thing is they want the ends covered so there is no chance of a short causing a fire.

Other than that just be nice and chill with your TSA agents and all should be good. If they ask if you have any electronics say "yes I have an RC car" and they should be able to help you from there. "thumbsup"

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

Thanks for the tips and advise guys! I made it to and from on my trip with no issues. My wraith was in my checked suitcase and the lipos were in my carry on as per the rules. "thumbsup"

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

Yes ... those cases are great.

I had a 1640 (I think) that had the pull your own foam and it was perfect for 2 trucks and 4 spare parts bins.
Only catch was it was oversize so extra fees but dam the trucks were safe as hell!

Re: Taking my crawler on a trip (plane ride). Any Tips?
 

Sorry to bring up an old thread but has anyone flown overseas specifically to the Caribbean with a crawler? I read that you wanna keep your battery’s in separate lipo bags “1 per bag” and I’m gonna carry on my truck. But does anyone have expeywith this? We’re going on a catamaran for a week and I’ll be able to take the dingy to uninhabited islands! I thought I’d be cool to crawl we’re no one has crawled before and possibly ever again!!