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skittles_of_SDC

When traveling do you carry on loose or in a suitcase?

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The one and only time I put it into a bag to carry on (out of dozens of trips) I had to weigh the hand luggage and was told to check it for being over weight - budget airline trying to get more cash.

I have never had a problem. I have never had to tell people how awesome I am. No-one has ever spilt anything on it, nor has he reserve been pulled. It is probably easer in the states than on budget airlines in Europe as they have better luggage allowances.

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

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If this thread is about travelling with skydiving gear (below are some comments). If it’s about attention seeking when you are getting from point A to pointB, I have no comment; it’s just sad.

These notes are about international travel (not just US domestic).

1. Don’t draw unneeded attention to yourself/equipment
2. Check your rig in a suit case as sports equipment with NO external identifiers (i.e. no visible skydiving decals/stickers)
3. Have a copy of AAD Card or Airtec Letter (though I have never been asked to see either)
4. Never tie anything around the handles etc of your rig

I don’t have the highest jump numbers or years of jumping on this forum, but I have travelled with my gear to multiple countries on 5 differing continents using everything from First Class majors airlines to crappy budget airlines (i.e. Ryanair). I’ve never seen anyone following the above to have a problem; all problems I have personally seen are from people trying to carry gear onboard in some manner.

Yes, you can argue that your suitcase can get lost. But, be realistic this doesn’t exactly happen on each and every flight does it? Besides your insurance company will buy you a new on new one. What about jumping when you arrive on this hypothetical trip? It’s not exactly like the majority of people on this forum are on the PD Display Team. Rent.

In short, check it & shut the fuck up. It works.
"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

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The one and only time I put it into a bag to carry on (out of dozens of trips) I had to weigh the hand luggage and was told to check it for being over weight - budget airline trying to get more cash.

I have never had a problem. I have never had to tell people how awesome I am. No-one has ever spilt anything on it, nor has he reserve been pulled. It is probably easer in the states than on budget airlines in Europe as they have better luggage allowances.



I have seen when a fellow skydiver takes a skydiving holiday on the other side of world and the airline looses his check in baggage. The result is that he just spent piss load of money to go skydiving for a few weeks and he doesnt have a rig. :D

I have also heard that someone had his reserve pocked holes through it, opened or otherwise tampered while he checked in his rig.

Now even if you would eventually get your rig back after a week or even if your insurance company would cover your loss, it wouldnt help you if your left without a rig on your two week holiday and therefore unable to skydive at all..

Thats the reason why I always prefer carry on..

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Besides your insurance company will buy you a new on new one.
In short, check it & shut the fuck up. It works.

Have you seen how little the baggage insurance payoff is? It won't buy you a new rig. Your homeowner's policy? $1000 deductible. Is that spare change to you? Sorry to rain on your STFU parade, but I'll keep carrying my rig on, discretely. :P

And I've known more than one skydiver to be rigless at a boogie because of lost/late luggage. No thanks.

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I pack it in a gear bag, so I avoid all those problems.

And I don't carry a laptop with me on my skydiving trips.

It wouldn't matter if I arrived at the DZ without clothes, but without a rig is a different matter.

:o

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

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Have you seen how little the baggage insurance payoff is? It won't buy you a new rig. Your homeowner's policy? $1000 deductible. Is that spare change to you? Sorry to rain on your STFU parade, but I'll keep carrying my rig on, discretely. :P



I definetly agree with you on this.

However, over all regarding insurance over gear, I have often had multiple insurances. (homeinsurance, travelinsurance) All of them have a maximum reimbursment value that is less then the gear is worth, but together they will cover the whole value..

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Sounds good to me. I almost want to just carry the rig on my back like I'm going to jump just to see the weird looks I get haha.

[:/] Naw, don't do that.

And don't yell "DOOR" when the plane levels off, either.

My first year in skydiving around 10 of us took a trip together. When the plane took off we all started yelling lol The rest of the plane was looking at us like WTF.

I dont care what anyone says on this. I NEVER had a problem just throwing the rig on my shoulder and getting on the plane. NEVER.

I check the rest of my gear to make it easier. Atl. video equipment ect.
Most security at airports have seen rigs before and the ones that have not , just get a supervisor and you will be fine.
As far as just check it and shut the fuck up that's just retarded
Never give the gates up and always trust your rears!

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>My first year in skydiving around 10 of us took a trip together. When
>the plane took off we all started yelling lol

>I NEVER had a problem just throwing the rig on my shoulder and getting
>on the plane. NEVER.

I've had to check my rig a few times because the pilot said "that thing's not coming on the plane." Probably had you and your friends on a previous flight.

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I've had to check my rig a few times because the pilot said "that thing's not coming on the plane." Probably had you and your friends on a previous flight.

Flying out of Seatac to a SoCal boogie once, V and I show up to the airport to find 8-9 jumpers upset that the agent was forcing them to check their rigs. I was flying with the crew that night so I was dressed up and had FAA I.D. on me, and I managed to convince the counter agent the FAA had no issue with parachutes on the plane. The jumpers were allowed to carry their rigs on. All that could have been avoided if they had just used discrete carry on duffels and not had to "tell the world" that "hey, it's a parachute!":S

They didn't behave much better on the plane, either. Convinced me not to fly with large groups of drunk jumpers.[:/]

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depends how late im running-

If I'm late/cuttin it close, it comes w/ me loose as it is easier to get inspected than opening some luggage and stuffing it back in again (yes rigs fit in bags, even my old 190 w/a 17???? reserve)

If i am on time and cruzin I definitely put it in a bag to avoid being "that guy."
So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

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>All that could have been avoided if they had just used discrete carry on duffels . . .

That would not have accomplished the goal of letting the world know what a bunch of talented and interesting people they were.

When World Team 06 was flying back from Thailand, a whuffo ended up sitting next to Craig Girard. Someone mentioned skydiving, and the whuffo said he had done a tandem. "Really? Was it fun?" asked Craig. The whuffo then told him all about it. Craig listened, said it sounded cool and went back to talking to the other skydiver.

At some point in most skydiver's careers, they get enough confidence in themselves that they no longer need to announce that they are skydivers to everyone they see. It can take a while, though.

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Victorinox backpack rollaboard.



Which model do you use? I looked at some online and to be honest, I don't know if I could fit my rig in one of those! :-)

Thanks
www.theflystyle.com

"When once you have tasted flight you will always walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward: for there you have been and there you will always be." -L.D.

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I didn’t add the bullet point “have full insurance coverage for all your equipment”. If travelling around with a few thousands worth of equipment, it is only reasonable to assume you have insurance cover; however it’s your choice if you choose not.

Remember, gear can also go missing from autos, DZs, hotel rooms, storage locations etc. An airline isn’t the only way you can lose your rig/equipment.

Please note that this is an international forum. Yes, I am fully covered with no deductible, but this is for my policy in my country. No one on here can speak for every country and every insurer. WTF, from reading these forums, it seems there’s an assumption that everyone in the US uses the same home insurer with the same coverage?
"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

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I didn’t add the bullet point “have full insurance coverage for all your equipment”.
Remember, gear can also go missing from autos, DZs, hotel rooms, storage locations etc. An airline isn’t the only way you can lose your rig/equipment.

it seems there’s an assumption that everyone in the US uses the same home insurer with the same coverage?

Very good points. I have a possesion or two for which I purchase an insurance rider. This pays full replacement costs with no deductible. It would probably be available for parachute equipment.

Same coverage? No, but most people's policies tend to be very similar in this country. I'm not an insurance expert, though.

Autos, DZ's, hotel rooms, and storage areas are all places to leave a rig, not to spirit it away and transport it hundreds to thousands of miles. Yes, gear thefts happen. We really try to limit our gear's exposure to theft, but it does happen. However, theft and lost luggage are two separate issues. ;)

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Victorinox backpack rollaboard.



Which model do you use? I looked at some online and to be honest, I don't know if I could fit my rig in one of those! :-)

Thanks



The 22" Trek Pack Plus. 22 x 14 x 9" (the size of the airline carry-on box). Came with a docking day-pack too. I don't know if the internal configuration has changed (they're now on version 4.0) any since I got mine (notably the big rig sized compartment next to your back).

It takes a really big rig not to fit an airline sized container. There are even 300 sized rigs with the right dimensions (some older rigs are long and wide instead of thicker - my Javelin J7 accuracy rig is somewhat wide and long)

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I use a gearbag backpack. Basically a duffel bag with backpack straps. That way I can get away with a second personal item 'carryon' (laptop backpack as laptop carrying case, but also carrying other goodies -- I carry it by its top handle, since I am already wearing a backpack).

Less clumsy than juggling a rolling carryon and a laptop bag at the same time in my opinion, and easier to fit in overhead bins than a rolling carryon.

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I walked onto the plane (Westjet) with the rig on as a backpack, had nearly no issues at all.

In Canada, customs scanned it, called over a supervisor, he said to rescan it and I heard what they were saying. "See, it's dark blue indicating that it's a hardened steel. You'll see things like this on...blah blah blah." Then they asked me if there was brass knuckles attached to the rig. I thought "WTF?". They scanned it again and allowed me to view it, the "brass knuckles" were actually the 3 ring circus and the cutaway housing. Surprisingly, it DOES look like brass knuckles...if you were missing a finger. All of this took about 5 minutes, including it being swabbed.

When I left Florida, I walked on with it again at Tampa INtl, they scanned it and said/did nothing. However, for some reason, my friend's rig set off an alarm at the Orlando Airport, supervisor came over and said, "ah it's a skydiving rig, it's fine".

All in all, fairly easy process, but I did have loads of documentation which i had no intent to bring out unless necessary and simple discussion didn't take care of. i will be doing the EXACT same thing when I leave for ZHills in 2 weeks again.

Surprisingly, i got a few interested looks at the rig, but with trying to avoid drawing attention to it, I didn't acknowledge anyone. Not 1 person approached me to ask about it, however it did draw some attention from some travellers in the terminal. The saw it was a backpack with legstraps and were curious what it was.

here's a good thread with some good info

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3033127;search_string=Airlines%20(WestJet)%20and%20parachutes;#3033127
"When once you have tasted flight..."

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Parked in a remote lot to go to a boogie. A guy traveling with us was joe cool skydiver and wanted everyone to know it. Rig on his back uncovered, t-shirt, hat, closing pin necklace exposed. Well, we parked near to what appeared to be a very small puddle, but it was actually a pot hole. Yep, car comes by and hoses the guy down with some nice dirty water. One of the other guys in the group looks at him and says "what does it actually feel like to be such an idiot". End of the summer comes and guys like that tend to not show back up in the spring.

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I just posted a thread last month on this issue so don't feel bad. It has been beaten to death but unless you want to search endless threads it is always safe to ask again.

I went through sacramento airport on my way to Denver and had absolutely no problems. I had my rig, and rig only, in a rig backpack. On my way back from Denver they did do an explosive test on my rig but it passed and off I went.

My recomendation is keep your rig seperate from anything else. If you pack other strange items (strange to the screener anyway) it only adds confusion. Not that you might need a weight belt but if you do it has to be checked. I have been placing my altimeter and helmet (with audible) in my check in. Even if it's lost the carrier will cover that cost normally. Far better than missing the flight, you can always find a helmet and altimeter where you are going if your stuff is lost in flight.

And what ever you do............ if you get alot of questions and looks at screening don't start shaking, sweating and looking disoriented (like your first skydive) as this tends to draw unwanted attention..
Chris

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I will never ever check my rig........period. Its not that they might loose it, it's what goes on out of your view. It's one thing to leave your rig in the packing area with other experienced skydivers, but to allow it to possibly be handled by alot of people who do not understand the equipment is just scary. remember, what makes skydiving just a little safer is to remember it is a dangerous sport. I was with the 82nd Airborne in the late 70's when a rigger was cutting static lines inside the pack. 7 people died as a result before it stopped. You just never know so don't risk it.
Chris

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Ya I mean I'm not an experienced skydiver by any means but I don't think I want my rig out of my hands where people can mess with it. I would rather cover the rig up but I've got a ton of parachute. Combined main and reserve its about 420 square feet so I don't know what the thing will fit in and it just seems easier to have it alone so you don't have to fuss with pulling it out every time a TSA dude gets curious.

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