Taking Your Quad On An Airline? Watch Out For This...

[LuvMyTJ]

I flew to Phoenix on holiday yesterday with my Phantom in it's tradecraft case. I placed it in the overhead bin and settled back for the sardine ride to Sky Harbor from New York. When I arrived 4 hours and change later I pulled it out and discovered the case was sucked in till it hit the top of the quad! Keep in mind these cases are water and dust proof. I had to pry that sucker open! Fortunately I don't see any damage. I never considered that happening since the cabins are pressurized. Take a look at the photos...

FYI - The case would not fit in the short way. I had to put it length-ways. I should of tried it backwards but it was congested in the isle and I also had my dog with me so I just stuck it sideways and closed the bin. Southwest has a very generous carry on size limit by the way.

No issues at security. The ladies were busy fawning over my dog and the guys were asking me questions about the Phantom.

UPDATE - SOLUTION BELOW

 

[Michigan_PI]

There is an o-ring that you take out which opens a vent hole. In the case documentation it discusses removing the o-ring prior to flight to keep that from happening. I believe the vent hole is under the right latch.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Instuctions? Who reads those? LOL :lol:

Thank you for that important bit of valuable information. I will be looking into that before I fly home.
Did you know that by reading the manual or did you find out the hard way like I did.
I bought mine second hand so no manual for me anyways.

 

[N017RW]

My Pelicans have a vent specifically for this.

 

[Michigan_PI]

LOL.. Of course I didn't read the instructions. Real men don't read the manual!! LOL
I read on here where a guy went to Iceland or Greenland or someplace and his Phantom got crushed in the case.
I also noticed sometimes my case would be a bit "puckered" just riding around in the car and I noticed that air would go out, but not back in.
After reading about the poor guy crushing his quad I decided to dig out the instruction sheet (I'm surprised I even kept it) and read up on the vent seal... but that was all I read then threw out the manual. LOL

 

[Happyflyer]

I take it that was a service dog?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

No, just my little buddy. Southwest Air allows small dogs in the cabin in a carrier. It is cheaper to take him with me than to board him (staying in AZ with family), besides, I don't feel comfortable leaving him at those places.
Ill tell ya, I would like to buy him the vest so I could save the dog fee. :twisted:

 

[Meta4]

I never considered that happening since the cabins are pressurized.

Cabin pressure is something like the air pressure at 8000 ft (0.75 atm) not the full 1 atm you get at sea level.
Next time you fly check the way a half empty bottle of water get partly crushed as the plane descends and cabin pressure gradually returns to 1 atm.

 

[Green_Phantom]

Aircraft cabins are pressurized. But not to where atmospheric pressure is on the ground. It's either less or more. Not sure. Fun experiment for next time. Take a water bottle with you on the plane. Drink your water during the flight, and at altitude screw the lid back on tight. Check it when you land. I THINK (don't really remember) the bottle will be crushed since the pressure the cabin is under at 38,000 feet is less than at sea level.

What probably happened to your case was that the pressure inside expanded it to the point where it deformed enough to leak air out. Once that pressure was gone, and the case went back to it's normal shape, the seal around the lid got tight again and sealed up just like it would have while on the ground. Now, during descent the pressure in the cabin starts to rise again, but the pressure inside your case is still whatever it was when your deformed case let the pressure out at 38,000 feet. Which is why it's now crushed.

Kind of dangerous actually, if you think about it. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to make a hell of a "kaboom" sound, like if one of your latches on the case would have let go.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Yeah, we were at 40 some thousand feet at one point. I found the little 'O' ring under the right latch. I will remove it upon my return. I latch it, twist the latch locks and I use padlocks on the corners. Not sure if it could 'pop' open. It would of been interesting I if it did I bet!

Anyone in the Phoenix area want to get together and fly?

 

[Michigan_PI]

from what I remember when my seal was still intact, it acts like a one-way valve allowing air to escape but not allowing anything to enter. That's why it crushes like that.

 

[SayntJ]

Ill tell ya, I would like to buy him the vest so I could save the dog fee. :twisted:

Oh boy.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

No worries, I am not into faking stuff like that as it only hurts the people with true service/helper dogs.

 

[SayntJ]

[emoji106]

 

[H-A]

I have often wondered if the Pelican case valve was needed, you have confirmed for me that the answer is yes.



H-A

 

[Green_Phantom]

from what I remember when my seal was still intact, it acts like a one-way valve allowing air to escape but not allowing anything to enter. That's why it crushes like that.

Makes sense.

 

[PsychopathRC]

You should have brought a backpack. It's breaths lol.

 

[shlepr]

Any problems taking the LiPo batteries on the plane?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Any problems taking the LiPo batteries on the plane?

It was not busy in security at Buffalo International so it was easy going. I walked in, threw it up on the belt and popped it open so they could see what it was before it even went into the x-ray tunnel. They never even looked or touched the batteries, they were to busy ooh'ing and ahh'ing over the Phantom. One TSA agent asked me if I used it to inspect chimneys. Apparently, another person not long ago brought one through and that was he used it for. I think most airports in the USA are pretty casual about coming through with them.