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ccowden

Anyone travel with rig during "orange" threat level??

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I was curious if it was starting to be a problem carrying on a rig now that the threat level has been raised. Anyone heard or travelled with a rig these last few days??

I am flying United at the end of January and was considering FedExing my rig instead of carry on. I would rather carry it on if people aren't having issues.


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don't ask to sit in an exit aisle



Why, they gladly gave me the exit row back and forth to florida a few weeks ago, and I carried my rig on board.....good thing no one yelled DOOR. ;)
She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

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I just traveled from El Paso, TX to Naples Italy on the 28th of Dec with no problems carrying my rig on. The X-ray screeners didn't even give the rig a second look. I packed my rig in an inconspicuous black samsonite carry on luggage, along with my wrist altimeter, Audible... my rig has a Cypres too...

Thank god I carried it on, my checked luggage didn't fare so well: after the TSA Screeners made sure they went through it [:/]the airline (Al Italia/Delta) lost it >:(. It was found a day later--- I am GLAD my rig wasn't checked! Who knows what a TSA Screener goon would have done with it.

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the airline (Al Italia/Delta) lost it



somehow, as soon as i read "to Naples Italy " i knew the story would end with lost luggage...

EVERY single time i've traveled with AlItalia, something went bad >:( (lost luggage, delayed flights, connection switched to Milan when someone was meeting me in Rome, Etc.)
unless i have to, i'll chose someone else, especially if my rig is involved...

O
"Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero."

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We just traveled from Seattle to Phoenix and back over the Christmas holiday with no problems. We carried our rigs on, didn't check them. The security person that x-rayed them asked if they were parachutes. duh! Another one standing by asked if we had CO2 charges in them. We saud no and they lets us continue on.

CO2 charges? What's that about? Its the second time we have been asked that by airport security in Phoenix. Does the Cypress use a CO2 charge??

Over Thanksgiving they decided to check my hubbie's rig for explosive residue (didn't find any) because they recognized by the x-ray that he had an AAD. My rig does also, but they didn't notice it. I don't even think they noticed that I HAD a rig in my bag. After not finding any explosive residue, they let us carry them on through. They kept asking us what fired off the AAD and we played innocent.

So actually we had a harder time with airport security over Thanksgiving than we did over Christmas when it was an Orange Alert. Go figure!
Cindy

Life on earth may be expensive,
but it includes a free trip around the sun!

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When you take your rig ,check it in.
DO NOT give it directly to your airline,tell them what is in it and they will tag it and let you hand it to the screeners. Tell them what it is let them x-ray it then lock it .It shouldn't be a problem.
"One flew East,and one flew West..............one flew over the cuckoo's nest"
"There's absolutely no excuse for the way I'm about to act"

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Hey Chris, I carried my rig onboard at Jacksonville, Phoenix, and Las Vegas airports last week and didn't have any trouble at any T.A.S. station. After getting through, I asked every stupidvisor what the policy was and got a uniform answer from all three. "If the airline allows it, and there is no CO2 cart, it's ok." Sounds like they have all been edumicated on these parachute thingys.....swoop

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Ok. Listen. I have just travled during this threat level, and I had NO problems. What other people say about the carry on thing, DO IT! take it as a carry on cause TSA is now just understanding what the aad is, and by their standards, if they have any doubt on any package, ANY DOUBT, that means saerch it, which means a reserve repack, and possible tampering with that expensive thing called a cypress/vigil, so please carry it on. It is stated in the baggage rules of the FAA that parachutes are accepted as carry on,s, so if you get any beef, ask for the floor manager, and he/she will no the info. Lastly, have that cypress card, and put the damn thing in a carry bag, dont just wear the rig, cause someone could pull that bull crap where you have a mysterious package?! But do what you like, just helpful hints here, Thats all;) Besides that, I even asked the floor manager of TSA at that time, and he said that he knew what the aad was, but he sounded all dumb, like " yea, that thing that pulls the pin" and I said yea, that thing, so obviously they are only as educated to know that it is not harmful, the only main concern with flights these days anyways, so keep a lower profile, and politness, it will go straight through the x-ray without question, I promise...PartyBoy

One last thing I forgot to mention, dont worry about what if that ask how it works, and all that c02 and explosive nonsense, most really are worried about it passing the x-ray, and with that card, you will prove them wrong every time, and as said before, they really arent that knowlegeable, and really, if they ask one of those retorical questions where any answer is a "wrong" answer, just play the cold shoulder, and feed them the exact opposite of what they are trying to get to, yea. Have fun Man.


Up High!!

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I flew down to Ft. Myers (from Chicago) on 12/20, before Orange, not even a second look at carrying on my cypres equipped rig.
I flew back 1/1, during Orange, the x-ray tech did a doubletake and stopped the belt, but let it through and didn't ask me a question.
I carried my logbook, riggers ticket, USPA card, cypres book & card with me just incase. I checked my dytters and protrack along with my helmet
My alitmeter is mounted on the rh legstrap, that went through with the rig.
I was quite pleased with how the TSA handled it, the training is working (or maybe not).
Anyway, no problems for me.
Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

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No problems going to Eloy. In fact at both Providence and Phoenix the TSA officials asked if it was a parachute in the bag before even opening it.

Seems like their education process is getting better.

Of course you do look a little shifty so I'd expect them to break out the rubber glove on you :)
Blue skies
Ian
Performance Designs Factory Team

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No problem here either.....carry-on through Greensboro-Houston-Phoenix last week and back through the same route this week. It was wanded for explosives the second time through Houston, but that was probably because I look like a suspicious sort.

One of the pilots saw me carry it on, grinned, and said " Do you think you're going to need that?" I grinned back and said " I guess that depends on how well you fly this thing." :)

Don
"When in doubt I whip it out,
I got me a rock-and-roll band.
It's a free-for-all."

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No problems for me on XMas day going to Eloy. MCO-DFW-PHX. In MCO, they stopped the xray machine while my stuff was in it....called somebody else over.....then asked me if it was my bag. I said yes, they said they were going to have to search it...turned out they were looking at my suitcase, NOT my rig bag.....and saw a pair of fingernail clippers, so they had to see if there was a file attached.. B|

Just make sure you remove any hook knife and put it in checked baggage.

Mike

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Travelled to Eloy with mine on the 25th and the 1st, both times checked in a semi hard case with no problems at all. Just listened out in case they called me.

I did get searched at the gate without any problems (other than the hand held metal detector being set off by staples in my passport!).

On the 1st I watched a friends rig go through the x-ray machine at PHX without a problem, if fact the operator wasn't even looking at the screen!!

Nick
Gravity- It's not just a good idea, it's the LAW!

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Stick with the big airports. I flew out of a tiny pudunk airport on Dec. 25th and it was obvious the TSA peeps there had no knowledge of parachutes. It was the first time i had to show my cypres card and really go into detail about what it is. Also having the printed out letter from the TSA helped. If not for those 2 items, i don't think they would've let me carry it on. After they took the rig out of my gear bag and all freaked out that i had a parachute, they ran it through xray again to compare pictures with the cypres card. It was rather amusing when the chick that was inspected my bag said in a panicked voice to the xray guy "she has a parachute here." So of course i invited her to come jumping with me in the spring.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

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I hope no one from TSA is reading this but I don't understand how having a laminated card with a bunch of circles and arrows that matches up to what they are seeing on the machine really proves anything. Now I have only seen a picture of one and not the real thing. What makes the card so magical?


"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Actually I wondered the same thing, and they showed us (alanab and I) what it looked like on their screen. The card is an actual photograph of what the rig should look like thru xray scans, and it's EXACTLY the same.

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

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I have flown from Denver to Dallas, Phoenix, LA, Oklahoma City, and Albuquerque.

I never had any problems and carried it on every time with the TSA information printed out and ready. I never even got stopped.

There's no way I'd check my rig. I've heard too many horror stories. Too much can happen from point A to point B.
________________________________________

"One out of every four American's are suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you."

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