Traveling with rig

[NWFlyer 2]

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Best advice in any case when faced with this possiblity I think, would be to remain as calm, and reasonable and NON-CONFRONTATIONAL as possible.

I think this is an excellent attitude for dealing with TSA in general.
There's two reasons I carry on:

1) If an inspection is done to my rig, I want to be there to see it.

2) It's several thousand dollars worth of equipment. Absolutely nothing else that I am traveling with is worth anywhere *close* to that much. I'd rather have the other stuff lost if the bag does go missing.

Granted, I only have one rig... those with two have to decide which one they love more.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[bisqit999 0]

I was on vacation in AZ and bought my rig there. On my way home I just threw the rig on my shoulder and went on the plane. Security looked at it through the x-ray machine for a bit and let me go pretty quickly. I didn't think about getting a gear bag to put it in until too late so I got a few strange looks from people when i was getting on the plane.

[goobersnuftda 0]

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I got a few strange looks from people when i was getting on the plane.

That is when you look at the passangers on the plane and say....."what? You mean they didnt give YOU your parachute?"

[micro 0]

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I got a few strange looks from people when i was getting on the plane.

That is when you look at the passangers on the plane and say....."what? You mean they didnt give YOU your parachute?"

I want to do that too!!! Then, before sitting down and strapping in, totally gear up and then sit in the exit row, tapping my feet nervously.

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[Eule 0]

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"Drop a dime" on the TSA guy?? For what?

Mainly for claiming that the TSA regs had been superseded, which
is pretty obviously not true. At first I also thought they couldn't
require you to open the reserve (since that incurs a reserve pack
job - $$*) but a more careful re-reading of the one-page TSA sheet
doesn't support this - they talk about opening the "chute(s)" which
implies they could ask you to unpack both. At the least, it does NOT
say, "we won't ask you to unpack your reserve." I haven't re-read
the FAA directive.

* I realize this isn't an "immediate" thing - if this happened, you
would repack your reserve and main yourself there at the security
point so you could get on the plane without a big wad of canopies,
but before you could jump it, it would need a repack and a seal by
a rigger to be legal.

Also, by "dropping a dime", I don't mean to call up the head TSA
guy for that airport or area and say, "Officer Smith hassled me, please
fire him", but more something like, "I had a little trouble going
through your airport; maybe it would help keep the public happy
and keep your officers from catching crap from the public if you
could help the officers to understand the regs more completely"
or something like that.

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Best advice in any case when faced with this possiblity I think,
would be to remain as calm, and reasonable and NON-
CONFRONTATIONAL as possible.

I'm with you here. I was once inbound on a flight that had to go
around a pretty big storm, so it arrived late and I missed my
connection. In the terminal, there were about two hundred people
with missed connections, and only two agents to help them all. I got
in line with the friend I was traveling with and as we moved closer to
the desk, he was starting to get pretty annoyed. I convinced him to
let me do the talking. I watched a few people in front of us gripe to
the agent while she was rebooking them. They left with passes for
another flight and that was all. My turn, "Hi, we missed our connecting
flight to XYZ because of the storm, and I'd like to see about getting
booked on another flight." "OK I can put you on a flight
about two hours from now." "That'd be great." " Here
are your boarding passes for that flight." I thought we were done but
" And here's a voucher for $20 for any of the
restaurants in the airport." "Thanks!" I'm pretty sure not everybody
got one of those. :) This was a ticket agent instead of security, but
being nice apparently helped.

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[Eule 0]

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That is when you look at the passangers on the plane and say....."what? You mean they didnt give YOU your parachute?"

I want to do that too!!! Then, before sitting down and strapping in, totally gear up and then sit in the exit row, tapping my feet nervously.

DISCLAIMER: None of this is actually a good idea, but it's fun to think
about.

Alternatively, get yourself a polo shirt with the airline's logo on it and
wear it on the flight. Get in the plane, gear up, sit down. If any other
passengers ask, say something like "Well, they implemented a new
policy for free employee flights - we can get on the first flight that
goes _past_ where we want to go and get out when we're over that
city." Or, "We're thinking of a new service - really low fares, but you
have to land by yourself - and I'm testing it out."

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[FrEaK_aCcIdEnT 0]

then try to convience them to close the door for u after u leave.

ExPeCt ThE uNeXpEcTeD!
DoNt MiNd ThE tYpOs, Im LaZy On CoRrEcTiOnS!

[rasmack 0]

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I got a few strange looks from people when i was getting on the plane.

That is when you look at the passangers on the plane and say....."what? You mean they didnt give YOU your parachute?"

I prefer this variation:

Whuffo / flight attendant: Why are you carrying a parachute?

Me: I know the pilot.


... OK maybe I just thought it would be a cool thing to say. I have actually had a flight attendant think I carried it "just in case", though. She asked me how I intended to get out if I needed it . I politely explained to her exactly how expensive the thing was. That shut her up

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...