Airport security

The issue is the transit in Dubai is landside, so you are treated as if you originate in Dubai. The UK haven’t banned Dubai laptops because a large portion of their flights between Asia/Africa and UK use Dubai as a transit point, but the US have banned Dubai flights because…well who knows these days.

Another battery fire on board an aircraft is reported in today’s international media. This time it was a lithium battery in a passenger’s backpack.

Each time there is an incident of this kind, we move closer to a total ban on lithium batteries on passenger flights.

Of course, Trump’s proposed rule to compel people to stow batteries and battery-operated equipment in the hold would make the situation even worse.

73,
Walt (G3NYY)

Cheap Chinese S**** not correctly stowed for transport.
Where is the tape over the terminals?
Where is the safety packaging.

US security theatre makes us jump through hoops and this junk got on board? Sack the baggage screeners.

Perhaps check the hand mic and antenna but carry the transceiver on board?

When I travelled to Spain with my FT817ND in October '16 from Bristol with Easyjet I took two 12v 7Ah SLABS. In preparation I contacted Easyjet who said that if Bristol security didn’t have any objections I could take them as hand luggage, I emailed Bristol who said no problem after I had emailed them the datasheet from Yuasa. On the day though it was totally different tone.
I was told that they could not go, a supervisor was called and said no. He looked at the emails that I had printed along with the datasheet then looked at the batteries which had plastic covers on the terminals, taped and bagged, separately Off he went to easyjet customer service and came back with a no. Then he took my printed emails to Easyjet and they again said no despite my having clear permission to take them.
So they were taken off me and I would be allowed them back upon my return and they would charge me £6 storage. After 40 minutes of discussion at 4:30am I decided to leave them behind reluctantly.
Later the supervisor tracked me down in departures and said that in his opinion I had done everything correctly and had sought permission so he thought that I should be allowed to take them. He phoned the pilot and was told that the aircrew would look at them when I boarded, could I board last please?, but I may have to give them up or they might have to travel with the pilot. The aircrew just asked if I had taped the terminals I assured them I had and they said could I please put them on the floor under my seat. So thank you for common sense supervisors. The rucksack containing tuners, wire aerials etc and the 10m sotabeams travel pole in my suitcase didn’t attract any attention at all.
On the return flight the Spanish just looked and shrugged.
Andy
M0RON

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Parents bringing back to France from Canada a 4.5 ah LifePo4 for a friend very soon. They are carrying it in their hand luggage without any radio, hopefully it will be ok. I shall report…

Edinburgh airport had seen this gear before - FT817 and LiPoFe (I wonder who that was?) and were more concerned about my shaving brush; so absolutely no problem. Funchal, the guy on the scanner did a double-take then smiled and said “OK”

I am going to Friedrichshafen next month for the hamfest!! I would like to take my KX3 and maybe find a summit or 2.

I have a LiFePO4 Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and was wondering if there is a problem with taking it on the plane? Carry on or checked?

Thanks
73
Kent
NC6B

Hi,

According to this you should be able to carry it as checked-in luggage unless it is a monster-sized one.
Double-check your airline’s rules on top of that to see what they say about dangerous goods. They may have their own rules and override the above.

Enjoy your trip!

73,
Arnaud
JG1XMV / KD2AFE

There’s a massive thread titled “Airport Security” that goes into this in great detail with lots of examples. It boils down to the size of the battery and what airports you are transiting through. Arnaud’s link is the IATA link, but airlines have their own rules that can be more restrictive. In general, you should be OK, unless you’re bringing along a psychotically sized one.

Thanks. I found some info on the KLM website. It looks like my 72 watt hour battery must be taken in carry on baggage only. I had planed to put the radio in my carry on anyway.

Kent
NC6B

Sounds like you have all the info you have, but adding… I always am worried about traveling with mine, but never have had an issue. I carry the battery in one of those lipo safe battery bags and make sure the leads are taped down.

Interesting story… on our spring trip back from Palm Springs, CA, we were in a rush through security at the airport. We did have TSA PreCheck, so I just tossed my laptop backpack on the xray conveyor and went through. Within the bag, in a vertical sandwich, was my 14" laptop, 8" tablet, KX3 full of NiMH AA’s and a 2200mAh LiPO all piled on top of each other. Not a peep out of the scanner agent! I usually panic about it for nothing it seems!

GL on your trip. Jim/K7MK

Hi Kent,
As Arnaud suggests, it seems that it’s best to ask your airline for specifics as implementation of the rules seems to vary from airline to airline.
Make sure all terminals on the battery are well taped up, so the inspector sees them as “well insulated”.

Also as regards SOTA activations some of the summits in the area have been removed from the scheme as they do not meet the P150 requirement, The closest summit to Friedrichshafen - Gehrenberg is still valid however and if you are interested, I have arranged a group activation of this summit from around 16:30 on the Saturday, prior to the SOTA Dinner. If the only reason you are bringing your SOTA gear is to be able to get a new association (DM in this case) then as I (and others) will be bringing gear along, you are welcome to share and hence avoid the problem of getting through airport security with gear and batteries. Of course if you plan to activate multiple summits while in Europe, this wont help.

Here’s my recent post on “SOTA-Saturday” at Friedrichshafen -

73 Ed.

Just went through Tokyo Narita and HK. I did not even bother taking my gear out and nobody asked anything. Tons of batteries, no issue.

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Here’s another experience to add to the collection: Zürich - Dubai - Brisbane - Nouméa, on Emirates and Aircalin, travelling with two Zippy 4200 mAh LiFePOs, with taped connectors and in separate plastic bags. Carry-on bag with laptop, tablet, Garmin InReach and various chargers and cables. Rig, amplifier, antenna, HT etc. all in checked baggage.

Zürich

I put the Zippy batteries on the belt separately without being asked. The two ladies at the X-ray monitor took a look at them, turned them around, spotted the “55.44 Wh” stickers that I had helpfully put on the batteries (can’t expect people to successfully multiply V x A these days ;)), nodded to each other, and the batteries were through. However, my bag had to go through the machine again after removing some of the small electronics for separate scanning.

Dubai

After reading some of the reports here and in other forums on the net, I pretty much expected transit security to take away my batteries. As instructed by the security staff at the checkpoint that you have to pass through once you get off the plane and before you enter the terminal, I only took my laptop out of my bag and left everything else, including the batteries, in the bag. Nothing happened – my bag came out of the machine, I grabbed it and, as John @VK6NU had put it, “continued on my merry way”. Perhaps I was just lucky, or they have changed their focus again. I did not spot any “no batteries” stickers around the scanners. There was another, very improvised security check at the gate, consisting of three security staff with wobbly little tables. It looked like a token exercise, as “my” security guy just had a cursory look inside my bag, and didn’t even take out my jacket to discover the batteries below it.

Brisbane

Had to check in again here for my flight to Nouméa after a one-day stopover. Nobody batted an eyelid at the Zippys, but the Garmin InReach raised some suspicion (“Is that a walkie-talkie?!”). Quick swab/scan for explosives at the end.

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Edinburgh > Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and return, November 2017

Usual bag of stuff, 817, 2x LiPo in Lipo bags, assorted USB chargers, USB cables, 2x USB power banks, diabetic syringe needles, finger lancets, tablet computer, 2x compact cameras. Bag with batteries in 1st tray, phone, tablet, cameras, 817, watch, money in second tray, jacket & belt in third tray. No problems. Not very busy so they could have gone to town.

Never seen anything pass through the scanner so fast as on the return trip!

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Manchester -> Heathrow

Left wire antennas in the bag and a handheld (relieved to see it on the x-ray as I couldn’t find it when I delved in!). They didn’t like that much, and it got a swabbing.

Singapore -> Sydney - only interested in laptops

Sydney -> Singapore - Everything laid out for them. Running repair on mic cable (broken RJ45 plug) => lots of electrical tape. They weren’t too keen on that. LiFePO4 drew attention. I think he was trying to read the label to check the capacity. But it was my Czech Army Morse key which drew the most suspicion. Why? No idea, but it’s got some gaffer tape on it.

Singapore -> Heathrow - still only interested in laptops

Heathrow -> Manchester - all laid out for them - no problems

A post was split to a new topic: Airport security part 2

Opp’s here’s one thats got through the net. 148 posts and still live!

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