Traveling with a Rig

[malooper 0]

So, kind of a random question but I'm headed to a wedding this week for a good friend and I was thinking, "Man, if I was licensed I could try and find a place to jump!" Then that made me thinking about traveling with a rig on commercial airplanes. Do you guys just check it or has anyone tried to carry it on? Do you guys get funny looks, do people even recognize what it is? It'll be my first full plane ride since starting skydiving so I'm sure I'll have a different perspective now!

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
-Raymond Lindquist

[mrubin 0]

I carry my rig on with me. I keep it in a gear bag and it looks just like any other bag. I've never had any trouble getting through security with it. They usually just open up the gear bag and take a look. Sometimes they swab it for explosive residue.

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[JohnMitchell 14]

malooper

It'll be my first full plane ride since starting skydiving so I'm sure I'll have a different perspective now!

Don't yell "DOOR!".

There's a lot of info hear on traveling with gear. Get a discrete gear bag, be low key and have all the little security documents, like the AAD x-ray card. Allow a few extra minutes to have them examine your stuff.

If you have a hook knife, leave it at home or check it. If you have any lead weights, take them out and run them thru the x-ray separately (they make a mysterious blank area that worries the TSA.)

[shropshire 0]

Depends upon country, airport and individual staff as to the amount of hassle that you get.

If you carry it on put it in a bag or forever be a complete tw@.

If it's too heavy or too large for carry-on (depends upon airline again) - put it in a hard case in the hold.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[chuckakers 370]

Quote

Don't yell "DOOR!".

That's dang funny right there.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[evan85 0]

All good advice in this thread. Here's some other advice I got when I asked this of friends recently:

"Tell them you are getting out at 13 and you'll have no problems at tsa."

"Just gear up and board the plane... When all the other passengers ask you if that's a parachute on your back, tell them 'yeah, the flight attendant didn't give you one on the way in?'"

"Wear your jumpsuit, helmet and gopro as well. Standing very close to the door in an exit row helps too. 'Am I blinking?'"

"And when you deplane, take rear float and try to launch a flower with the other passengers down the ramp"



On a serious note, know the rules for TSA (as they were told to me, I haven't confirmed these independently):
1. A supervisor is required to be present if they want to open your rig;
2. They must provide a secure area big enough for you to repack your main;
3. They must provide an FAA licensed rigger to perform the repack (emphasize "FAA", this tends to help);
4. If this causes you to miss your flight they will have to rebook your flight and they incur the costs.

[mereanarchy 0]

I have heard #1 and #2 on your list, can anyone give citations confirming #3 and 4? I can't find anything.

[Di0 1]

Very interesting documents by uspa on the subject:

http://www.uspa.org/USPAMembers/Membership/Travel/WithintheUS/tabid/311/Default.aspx

http://www.uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Newsletters/Traveling%20with%20Your%20Rig%20Dec%2009.pdf

http://www.uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Other_TSAletter.pdf

I'm standing on the edge
With a vision in my head
My body screams release me
My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

[Di0 1]

evan85

3. They must provide an FAA licensed rigger to perform the repack (emphasize "FAA", this tends to help);

If this is true, I'd travel with my rig when the reserve repack is almost due and try to look as suspicious as possible.

I'm standing on the edge
With a vision in my head
My body screams release me
My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

Di0

***
3. They must provide an FAA licensed rigger to perform the repack (emphasize "FAA", this tends to help);

If this is true, I'd travel with my rig when the reserve repack is almost due and try to look as suspicious as possible.

Spray-on tan and a turban helps.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[malooper 0]

JohnMitchell

Don't yell "DOOR!".

Haha, you don't think that'd go over well?

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
-Raymond Lindquist

[malooper 0]

Too funny!! I love the one about gearing up. Oh man, april fools jokes or something. Too bad we can't be a bit more light-hearted flying commercially anymore.

Thanks everyone for the input and links! Landing should be boring now, right?

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
-Raymond Lindquist

[evan85 0]

mereanarchy

I have heard #1 and #2 on your list, can anyone give citations confirming #3 and 4? I can't find anything.

I have not confirmed nos. 3 and 4, and agree I've heard nos. 1 and 2 more widely than 3 and 4. I do hope that 3 and 4 are true, and if confronted with the situation, will likely tell the TSA supervisor in question that I've heard they are true

[Opie 0]

evan85

................

On a serious note, know the rules for TSA (as they were told to me, I haven't confirmed these independently):
1. A supervisor is required to be present if they want to open your rig;
2. They must provide a secure area big enough for you to repack your main;
3. They must provide an FAA licensed rigger to perform the repack (emphasize "FAA", this tends to help);
4. If this causes you to miss your flight they will have to rebook your flight and they incur the costs.

On a serious not I call b.s. on every one of those. Do you have a TSA link to back any of them up?

I think you could be leading a new guy in a seriously wrong direction here.

-

[JohnMitchell 14]

malooper

***
Don't yell "DOOR!".

Haha, you don't think that'd go over well?

Unfortunately I've flown commercially with large groups of drunken skydivers and a lot of that kind of stuff was going on. The trouble started at the ticket counter. They were being idiots.

[mrubin 0]

http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/parachutes

You must be present if they are going to open your rig.
They will examine it in an area where you have enough space to pack.

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[evan85 0]

Opie

***................

On a serious note, know the rules for TSA (as they were told to me, I haven't confirmed these independently):
1. A supervisor is required to be present if they want to open your rig;
2. They must provide a secure area big enough for you to repack your main;
3. They must provide an FAA licensed rigger to perform the repack (emphasize "FAA", this tends to help);
4. If this causes you to miss your flight they will have to rebook your flight and they incur the costs.

On a serious not I call b.s. on every one of those. Do you have a TSA link to back any of them up?

I think you could be leading a new guy in a seriously wrong direction here.

-

As noted below, TSA's page at http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/parachutes has no. 2. USPA's page at http://www.uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Newsletters/Traveling%20with%20Your%20Rig%20Dec%2009.pdf says that you may ask for a supervisor if you're having problems, which for me is as good at no. 1 because who wouldn't ask for a supervisor if TSA asked to open your rig? I have also heard no. 1 from a number of different people.

Regardless, I dispute that my saying something with the very clear caveat "(as they were told to me, I haven't confirmed these independently)" is going to lead anyone "in a seriously wrong direction", unless that person is in the habit of believing everything they hear on the internet.

[Opie 0]

I agree that YOU as the owner of the rig should always ask for a supervisor if they start to ask questions about your rig.

Items 3. and 4. are frankly laughable.

One would hope that people don't believe everything they read on the internet, but here in the general skydiving forum, I think giving tips and advice on flying commercial with a rig should be taken a bit more seriously. When a new skydiver gets bad advice and causes a stir with TSA because of it we all end up suffering for it.

-

[ctrph8 0]

I saw this in LAX. It all makes sense now.

[inline IMG_1685.jpg]

evan85

On a serious note, know the rules for TSA (as they were told to me, I haven't confirmed these independently):
1. A supervisor is required to be present if they want to open your rig;
2. They must provide a secure area big enough for you to repack your main;
3. They must provide an FAA licensed rigger to perform the repack (emphasize "FAA", this tends to help);
4. If this causes you to miss your flight they will have to rebook your flight and they incur the costs.

[evan85 0]

Fair point, but it's not just something I said on the internet, it's something I said and specifically mentioned I had no evidence for. Since no one has shown that it's not true, I don't think it's unfair to say.

Providing a rigger may be a stretch, but again just reporting what I heard. Rebooking you if they make you miss your flight I do not think is a stretch -- they do that if they make you miss a connection because of delays on your first leg of a 2-leg itinerary, right?

[mrubin 0]

evan85

Rebooking you if they make you miss your flight I do not think is a stretch -- they do that if they make you miss a connection because of delays on your first leg of a 2-leg itinerary, right?

I doubt that TSA will rebook you if you miss your flight. They recommend getting there even earlier if you're travelling with a rig so you don't miss it. If you miss the second leg of your trip because of delays on the first, its the airline that rebooks you, not TSA.

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[yoink 321]

evan85

. Rebooking you if they make you miss your flight I do not think is a stretch -- they do that if they make you miss a connection because of delays on your first leg of a 2-leg itinerary, right?

You don't fly much, do you?


There is not a snowballs chance in hell that the TSA has any interest or responsibility in rebooking a flight for you. None. Zero.

They'll simply say either 'you should have arrived earlier', 'That's your problem', or (if you really annoy them) 'Bend over., Sunshine. Let's see what else you're hiding.'

[3mpire 0]

There is no way the TSA would provide a rigger. How could they possibly justify having a guy on call to repack a reserve in time for you to make your flight? Can you imagine the expose about government waste the nightly news would do on that one?

Edited to add: and since when was customer satisfaction even remotely interesting to a TSA agent?! lol

If you carry on, you should go through with your rig and nothing else inside a bag that is big enough to fit your rig + unpacked reserve.

I know it's "cool" to walk through the terminal with your rig on like a backpack, but there's nothing cool about walking through the terminal with your reserve and a pouty lip out while your plane leaves the gate without you because you can't gate check your ball of shit and it won't fit under your seat or in the overhead

[DSE 3]

evan85

All good advice in this thread. Here's some other advice I got when I asked this of friends recently:

"Tell them you are getting out at 13 and you'll have no problems at tsa."

"Just gear up and board the plane... When all the other passengers ask you if that's a parachute on your back, tell them 'yeah, the flight attendant didn't give you one on the way in?'"

"Wear your jumpsuit, helmet and gopro as well. Standing very close to the door in an exit row helps too. 'Am I blinking?'"

"And when you deplane, take rear float and try to launch a flower with the other passengers down the ramp"



On a serious note, know the rules for TSA (as they were told to me, I haven't confirmed these independently):
1. A supervisor is required to be present if they want to open your rig;
2. They must provide a secure area big enough for you to repack your main;
3. They must provide an FAA licensed rigger to perform the repack (emphasize "FAA", this tends to help);
4. If this causes you to miss your flight they will have to rebook your flight and they incur the costs.

Neither #3 nor #4 or accurate.
There have been articles in Parachutist, here on DZ.com as well, about traveling with a rig.
If your gear is deemed unsafe for any reason, it is not incumbent on the TSA to do anything to help you board your flight with the 'unsafe' baggage.
If you miss your flight due to time constraints and a security check, that's your problem, not the TSA's.

[mattjw916 2]

meh, I used to fly with my rig all the time... the only "odd" thing that ever happened to me was a screener asked to see my USPA card (which I showed him, but I also let him know that skydivers are not obligated to join the USPA)

once a pilot saw me boarding with my rig over my shoulder and said "I might need that later" ... I told him to bring his own...

my old rig was pretty plain (and gigantic) so I just tied up the leg straps and carried it over my shoulder since I would have needed a separate roller bag for it... my current rig could fit in a military style backpack so I probably would "hide" it.

I always carried a couple pull-up cords, my USPA card, the Cyres card, and the TSA letter about AADs with me. Like I said, I was only asked for my USPA card once. I got "swabbed" a lot though. YMMV

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080