TSA & traveling with rigs as carry on

[nerd137 0]

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Why is it important to have the rig out in the open...?

Convenience.

And saves $$$ on a gear bag. Seems kinda silly to me to buy a bag for something that was designed to fit over your shoulders already. Kinda like a backpack for a backpack or something. But that's me.

Convenience= I want to look cool in front of the whuffos and let everybody know I'm a cool skydiver

You must be one of those I'm-cool-because-I-try-really-hard-not-to-be people.

[nerd137 0]

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Come on people, we've been very fortunate to have an agreement with TSA to allow rigs as carry on. If enough nervous nellies cause a big stink, some asswipes at a TSA supervisors meeting somewhere will conclude the benefit for us isn't worth the pain in the ass for them, all because of the bad publicity from an incident involving Jane Q. Nervous and Joe Skydiver.

Tell ya what. You buy me a gear bag, and I promise I'll help suppress the Great TSA Anti-Skydiver Conspiracy by using it.

I think they start at about $140 on ParaGear.

[nerd137 0]

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I'm of the opposite opinion - it's inconvenient *not* to have a gear bag.

For that stop in the airport restroom before or after the flight ... hmmm, nowhere to put it down and it's a little awkward having it on my shoulders for this.

So that when I put it in under the seat I don't have to worry about the gum someone stuck under there, or the guy in front of me spilling his drink and having it drip back onto my rig.

So that if I put it in the overhead, some yahoo with his too-big-for the overhead bin bag doesn't decide to move it by pulling on that convenient silver handle.

And the reasons others have mentioned ...

I already had a roller bag into which my rig fits perfectly, so I didn't have to buy something, but using the roller bag also leaves my arms free for a small backpack to carry on.

And YOU.

You actually make some really good points.

[wmw999 2,120]

My rig (Javelin J1, so roughly the same size as yours) fits into a rollaboard bag. You can find those in any second-hand store for $10.00 or less, and you can find new ones for not much more.

They have sort-of stiff sides, so they'll protect your rig better than just carrying it as a backpack anyway.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[nerd137 0]

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My rig (Javelin J1, so roughly the same size as yours) fits into a rollaboard bag. You can find those in any second-hand store for $10.00 or less, and you can find new ones for not much more.

They have sort-of stiff sides, so they'll protect your rig better than just carrying it as a backpack anyway.

Wendy P.

Ooh! I just had an idea... maybe I can buy one at the airport. Hmmm.

Oh shit, there's my taxi.....

[Icon134 0]

What she said... when I travel with my rig I put it in a carry-on sized roller bag that can and has also been used for the occasional buisness trip when I wasn't bringing my rig.

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[jtnesbitt 0]

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My rig (Javelin J1, so roughly the same size as yours) fits into a rollaboard bag. You can find those in any second-hand store for $10.00 or less, and you can find new ones for not much more.

They have sort-of stiff sides, so they'll protect your rig better than just carrying it as a backpack anyway.

Wendy P.

+1

Thats what i use. It's so much easier. I have a J3 and i can fit my rig, freefly suit, helmet, and the little stuff like gloves, alti etc all in the rollaboard. Scans real easy in the xray and everything is together and always in my sight. Plus if i run into trouble and have to check it it's protected. A couple times on the way to Houston and back on the smaller jets i have carried it on only for them to tell me the overheard bins on that aircraft are too small and they throw it under the place for me. They would have to pry it outta my hands if i didnt have the rollaway.

"If this post needs to be moderated I would prefer it to be completly removed and not edited and butchered into a disney movie" - DorkZone Hero

[timmyfitz 0]

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Why is it important to have the rig out in the open...?

Convenience.

And saves $$$ on a gear bag. Seems kinda silly to me to buy a bag for something that was designed to fit over your shoulders already. Kinda like a backpack for a backpack or something. But that's me.

Convenience= I want to look cool in front of the whuffos and let everybody know I'm a cool skydiver

You must be one of those I'm-cool-because-I-try-really-hard-not-to-be people.

Sorry, my coolness factor left me about 20 years ago, if I ever had one in the first place, before I started skydiving.

Usually, but not always, people wear there rig in the open in an airport or wear skydiving t-shirts away from the dropzone for one reason and it's not convenience. Look at me, I'm a skydiver!

If you want to reduce your chance of having trouble with the TSA, keep your rig in a bag/suitcase and keep your mouth shut.

[nerd137 0]

You've got some seriously weird insecurites, dude.

[chaoskitty 0]

Well.. I'm picking nerd up in a few hours, and I was going to take him out for a few beers, but I guess I'll take him to Wal Mart to buy a gear bag instead.
Must keep his wannabe coolness in check. I dont know who he thinks he is. OH and if he is wearing a skydiving T-shirt.. He'd just better not be.


No worries, any problems he has with TSA will be reported here. We can laugh at him and tell him I told you so.

[timmyfitz 0]

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You've got some seriously weird insecurites, dude.

Yea, so. What's your point? My insecurities don't include me trying to stick out from the crowd so people will know that I am a cool skydiver.

[Icon134 0]

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...or wear skydiving t-shirts away from the dropzone for one reason and it's not convenience. Look at me, I'm a skydiver!

I wear the skydiving t-shirts I wear because I got them for free... (at least most of them...)

now if I want to STAND out in the croud I'll wear this T-shirt... which was given to my by a friend because I can cook... not because of the underlying message...

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=75217;

btw: this is an abercrombie & fitch t-shirt... and I don't generally wear it anymore because the subliminal message has become way too obvious...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[mdrejhon 8]

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Sitting in the departure lounge at LAX, now, pissed off and a little worried.

Brett came to LAX at the same time as he did, though I got off at the Air Canada.

I was pulled aside for a pat-down search, but I showed them my parachuting license and preemptively told them it was a parachute.

After 10mins, they let me proceed, keeping my rig as carryon, untouched, though they looked at it with some scrutiny.

This was the most 'invasive' search at an airport I have ever had, and was worried but in the end, I was waved on.

I have a gear backpack, which I bought for $25 from a retired skydivers gear sellout ($100 orig, $50 orig resale quote, bid down to $25 because it needed repairs at strap attachments, went to a tailor, did the repairs, good as new, good gear backpack for cheap.). It makes it so much easier to carry without worrying of pulled handles too - and I can hand-carryon my other laptop backpack like a "personal item" with the gear backpack on my back). It looks so much like a gym bag that maybe it played a factor in letting it be waved on.

(I had checked my hook knife, something I had remembered to do, although occasionally forgotten - it's a metal handle hook knife. However, it's aluminum. Wonder if it shows only as a 1cm x 1cm embedded metal blade in the hook, or shows, including the handle, a signature the the size of a Cypres AAD? If they gave you a sugar cube finger-width approximation, also the thickness of a Cypres AAD, it also happens to be the size of the blade embedded inside a plastic handle or even sticks out relative to an aluminum handle.)

[nerd137 0]

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You've got some seriously weird insecurites, dude.

Yea, so. What's your point? My insecurities don't include me trying to stick out from the crowd so people will know that I am a cool skydiver.

And you're absolutely certain that's my intent, huh?

Lol... You sound like a grumpy old man. Are you waving your cane around while you rant and rave over there?

[nerd137 0]

No problems, I'm on the plane now. And the shirt I'm wearing has a picture of squid swimming around on it. I hope that's okay. :D

Once I get in Hotlanta, maybe I'll take you up on your offer for a trip to wal mart. Maybe. (Just don't tell Mr. Grumpypants.)

[LloydDobbler 2]

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I'm of the opposite opinion - it's inconvenient *not* to have a gear bag.

For that stop in the airport restroom before or after the flight ... hmmm, nowhere to put it down and it's a little awkward having it on my shoulders for this.

So that when I put it in under the seat I don't have to worry about the gum someone stuck under there, or the guy in front of me spilling his drink and having it drip back onto my rig.

So that if I put it in the overhead, some yahoo with his too-big-for the overhead bin bag doesn't decide to move it by pulling on that convenient silver handle.

And the reasons others have mentioned ...

I already had a roller bag into which my rig fits perfectly, so I didn't have to buy something, but using the roller bag also leaves my arms free for a small backpack to carry on.

I'm with you on this one.

The other bit of convenience (not sure if it's been mentioned) is if one of the TSA-minions-on-a-power-trip insists on popping my reserve. If I have a gear bag, at least I can bundle it up a bit and secure it, instead of having to walk around with a bulky spring-loaded reserve PC and a freebag that wants to fall out.

& I'd much rather pay for another $60 reserve packjob than pay $25 to check my rig in a plastic bag and trust that the airline isn't going to screw up my rig, then offer me $500 for it (or whatever their maximum assumed liability is).

Paying $10 for a cheap gearbag doesn't seem like that bad an idea, when you consider the 'what could possibly go wrong' factor.

Signatures are the new black.

[nerd137 0]

So has anyone actually had the experience of being forced to open their reserve? So far I think the worst horror story has been of someone who was forced to check their rig.

Oh, Timmy: I was wondering, do you consider it too gratuitious to read Parachutist in pubic? Or is that subtle enough to avoid the 'cool skydiver' stigma you speak of with such disgust?

[pwln 0]

I DO have a gear bag, and it is ALWAYS with me, but to answer your question, I'd rent a car and drive it. If I fly somewhere, more than likely my company made me. If it was a personal trip I would rebook with another airline at a different section of the airport or different airport all together.

I know that they cannot show me their manual or procedures, but I've made them look/call others until someone ended up saying it was ok. Mind you the rig NEVER left the gear bag. I just very nicely ask them to keep looking or call someone that knows what is going on. I get paid by the hour, so I'm in no hurry.

There have been new procedures put in place since the date on the letter that most of us use, but after 30-40 minutes looking at their book, they usually find something that makes it ok. Then they tell me that they are sorry for the delay and I tell them no big deal that is why I am here so early, better safe than sorry. and I thank them for taking the time to look it up (even if I had to push the issue.)

I'm glad that I try not to fly very often.

[pwln 0]

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on the smaller jets i have carried it on only for them to tell me the overheard bins on that aircraft are too small and they throw it under the place for me. They would have to pry it outta my hands if i didnt have the rollaway.

I've had this happen a few times and I've always told them it will fit under my seat just fine, it is a little tight but it does fit, just does not give me crap for leg room.

[shropshire 0]

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+1

Thats what i use. It's so much easier. I have a J3 and i can fit my rig, freefly suit, helmet, and the little stuff like gloves, alti etc all in the rollaboard. Scans real easy in the xray and everything is together and always in my sight. Plus if i run into trouble and have to check it it's protected. A couple times on the way to Houston and back on the smaller jets i have carried it on only for them to tell me the overheard bins on that aircraft are too small and they throw it under the place for me. They would have to pry it outta my hands if i didnt have the rollaway.

Size is not the only issue.... on most airlines the carry-on weight is also a factor. 10Kgs on some, would be way to little to allow for my rig to be carried on and 15Kgs on another would only just work.

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

[sundevil777 93]

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So has anyone actually had the experience of being forced to open their reserve? So far I think the worst horror story has been of someone who was forced to check their rig.

Yes, I've faced the decision of being made to open the reserve or check it. I checked it.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[pchapman 261]

Just a couple observations to add to the many on threads like this one:

I and 3 friends flew out of Tampa, Florida today. Three of us with Cypres 1 or 2's in our rigs made it through the TSA checkpoint without anything but a longer look at the scanning monitors, but then we got held up for a while because one guy had a Vigil and they "couldn't see inside it" and it looked "more like a weapon" -- a bit of an odd problem with having a robust metal case!

The TSA folks did know about nearby Z-hills, and eventually let us pass after talking things through and having the main container opened so the Vigil could at least be felt at the bottom of the reserve container.

Later in the day, doing the TSA thing at Dulles airport (Washington DC), they shut down two screening lines for about 10 minutes when our carry on gear started going through the scanners. (Although the first guy got through the whole process without being stopped...)

For that time the TSA people conferred, radio calls were made, and a supervisor came to sort things out. A few rig and hand swabs later we were good to go. At least they told the growing crowd behind us that there was a "technical problem" instead of setting us up for lynching.

After some fairly carefree experiences with TSA on other recent flights, most of us didn't have Cypres and Vigil x-ray cards handy (even if they were somewhere buried in paperwork or checked luggage). Having them at hand would likely have sped things up, the supervisor said.

All the TSA folks we met were courteous and friendly (on this particular trip).

[billeisele 122]

was on the Delta site today and it says:

Parachutes
Sport parachutes are accepted as carry-on baggage only, provided that none of the items are classified as dangerous goods. (example: pressurized oxygen cylinders).

Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.