Basejumper.com - archive

Has anyone had a problem taking a BASE rig as carry on luggage?
I'm flying United.
Any suggestions?
I'm guessing hook knives are no-no.
Thanks ~J

As many times as I've taken my skydiving rig with a cypres on commercial airlines, its not once been checked. I take my base rig one time, and they practically pull apart my pack job. But otherwise, like a skydiving rig, just carry it on and the most they'll probably do is take it out and admire it.

Hey, as long as they don't give me shit when my stash bag takes up the whole overhead compartment
~J

I typically squeeze two BASE rigs into a piece of roll-on luggage that is designed to fit in an overhead bin. They have only once opened it and that was in U.S. customs after returning from Mexico. The guy asked, "What do you have in here, sir?" I just replied, "A couple parachutes." He acted like I had said a magic word.. He said, "Parachutes?? We don't open parachutes!" and he zipped my bag back shut.

The domestic guys seem more concerned about my camera bag (electronics) and my shoes...

I hadn't even considered taking the hook knife out and putting it in my checked bags, good idea.

I'm flying out of ATL going to SLC Memeorial Day weekend, and I'm hoping that the three of us going through the inspection stations together willnot run into any trobules.

Ganja

There's no better feeling than to have one security guy frisking you while another guy is ripping apart your BASE rig. If they have to inspect your rig, ask them if YOU can carefully open the packjob and show them. Most often, they are interested in your connector links (metal). Otherwise, I've had no out of the ordinary experiences with BASE rigs on flights.
Good luck.

How would a whuffo airline inspector know it's not a skydiving rig and therefore covered by the whole TSA/USPA thingy?

Carry it over your back and check the hook knife. One rig is very small so it won't take up much in the over head compartment or safely stowed underneath the seat in front of you.

I carry parachutes onboard any time I travel. Besides if they do unpack it, it's not a reserve so it's no big deal.

what does he care?
it aint his bussness,you could go to a legal place to jump your gear. no worryes

ahhh but I do think its a reserve, There sure isn't a main.

I suppose one could loosely qualify it as an emergency parachute. No TSO so it's not official. If there is no main, there is no reserve,therefore it's just a parachute.

Enough on semantics eh?

I think you missed my point. I'm saying why wouldn't they (whuffo security) treat it as a skydiving rig, in which case USPA's advice for "traveling with your rig" would seem to apply here as well?

oh sorry yes i see now,i thourght if the securety would chek if it were ok to skydive whith..my bad

my experience - hand luggage and explain what it is if they ask - i have found most airport security play the "guess what it is" game and when the person who shouts "parachute" wins he is so smug that to be honest most airport security dont ask any questions or ask what its for......... now skydivers with cypress there is another issue - at least we dont have to explain that shit!!

If you accidentally take one through security, you can take out the blade and keep the rest. When you get to where you're going, a new blade will be about a buck or less.

i never had an issue about my hook knife i just leave it there.

I got lucky last time I took my skydiving rig on a plane,The baggage screener had more jumps than me!
~J

In the last six or eight months, I've flown United and Delta, carrying on both my skydiving and BASE rigs. The skydiving rig was not in a container, but the BASE rig was in a backpack with wheels. Each time, they were only concerned with the skydiving rig--more specifically, the Cypres--but only gave the base rig a passing glance. They didn't mention the hook knives on either rig.

I was going to Italy (from the UK) last September and was told by Ryanair that they do not allow parachutes as hand-luggage because of the risk of the Cyprus activating. They tried to stop me, but I explained it was a Base rig and they let me go.

Its always worth playing the no-Cypes thing as an argument.

Meeker

rich kid hope your all good,the canopy is still flying.. oh and it likes it lowish

Well, I guess I misspoke. I should have said the credit card company's skydiving and BASE rigs. (one of each btw.) No rich kids here.

BTW, can I have that canopy back now? I keep rethinking my need for vents.

sure just ship me one similar but whith valves aswell instead

Hmmmm....

I think it might be a little easier just to ship my Fox back to Kalifornia and have both vents and valves installed.

Never. In fact so far nobody has even identified it as a parachute! I try to give an honest answer, such as "this is a BASE rig". Sometimes they ask what is a BASE rig - then "sports equipment" is a perfect explanation. One time in Paris they started to say that if it was a parachute they couldn't let it through... i had to lie and say it was a parapente, which kept everybody happy.

bsbd!

Yuri.

Yeah Bangholio. I had the same problem in Paris. The head of security at Charles De Gaule is an asswipe from India and he is totally lost. I had a big fight with him once since I lost a plain because of him and I asked him to show me his guidelines about the parachutes, which was obviously taken from nowhere... After a hardcore sneak operation I managed to get BEHIND the security, but had to wait and hide myself at the gatestation for four hours before the next flight. I managed to convince the Air France Office that the guy was totally nuts and they gave me a free ticket for food and beverages in the meantime. Obviously the people on Charles De Gaule dont like that prick either...(anno 2002). Besides of that, I traveled around the world with no problems...Just act like it is a regular backpack (stow up your legstraps with rubberbands) . They normally won't see the difference.

Butthead

no problems at all . i have answered a few questions from some security guys a couple of times and pointed out a few things so that they would know what they were looking at and they were appreciative and acted like they were actually interested in knowing about them so that they would know in advance what thet were looking at have fun see you all at the bridge

If you go to uspa.org you can get a TSA form about bringing parachutes onto an airplane with and without cypresses. I used this form when I flew to Miami to skydive on marathon key island. The TSA had no problems with me bringing my skydiving gear with a cypress onto the airplane. BASE gear should be even easier. It also helps to have a skydiving friend that works for the TSA at the airport you fly out of. But you shouldn't have any problems. See ya at the bridge.

Bryan

To make it a bit easier to find, I'm posting the link:

http://www.tsa.gov/...l/editorial_1147.xml

There are two "printer friendly version" links on the page. One goes to a web version, the other goes to a PDF file.

Mark