Bring it on the airplane?

[Flames]

I have a friend that's flying to London sometime in december.
I asked if he could buy some gear during his visit there.
We are talking about two TLAudio Ivory units and maybe two SP mics.
If it where me that was flying to London I would take it as onboard bagage, but hey, it's little much to ask.

So, how well do audio gear surrvive the cargo area of a passanger jet. I can imagen that it woulden't be very clever to abuse a mic diaphragm of such enviorment, but how well do tube unit like TLAudio's surrvive.

[lbcstudios]

hey... make sure he takes the mics and any other delicate equipment on the plane with him.... dont put it in the hands of someone else.... my dad works hte luggage part of the airport... loading on planes and that... not sayin he does... but ppl dont care about strangers possessions... good chance it could be thrown onto the belt goin into the plane.

[Tonio]

good chance it could get thrown on the belt???
I thought that was the protocal.

[stonepiano]

yeah man,

I had a big old chunk taken out of my '82 Taylor 815 because they insisted I check the thing.

paid me $100 to get my vintage axe "fixed."

[SonicAlbert]

Your friend should take the mics onboard. The TLA units might be okay in baggage if they are still in their original shipping cartons. If it was me, I'd pay shipping and just order the stuff from a dealer. Don't know about Euro taxes or any of that though, which is why I assume you are trying to do it this way.

Ideally, any rack gear should be in shock mounted racks if it is going to be subjected to baggage. Ever sat in an airplane and watched them load or unload baggage from the compatment below? Sometimes they'll just drop something off the ramp.

[Flames]

Maybe I'll just order direct from the dealer since there are no problems with additional taxes within the EU. The shipping cost from turnkey is 35£ for coutries in Europe, and if you are two persons placing one order you can splitt that cost in half, so I guess it's a nobrainer.

[Fletcher]

It really is a "no brainer"... in fact, I'm quite sure your friend would give you 35£ [what's that, like €50?] not to have the pain in the ass of schlepping it back for you.

[anppilot1]

Well, let me just put it this way........

Being a A&P (aircraft maintenance) mechanic for a top 10 major US airline,

someone asked if theres a chance if it will get thrown onto the beltloader, THAT my friend is a given.

The real question is will it FALL out of the bag pit straight to the ground?

My wife and I work for 2 different major airlines, and we recently (2 weeks ago) went to NewYork (from Dallas) to go and but a Roland JV-90.

Comming back with a keyboard sucks. I didn't have a flight case, I brought a empty soft case with me. I got lucky on the first leg from LaGarbage er..uhm....LaGaurdia to Atlanta, we were on a B757 and I kissed the flight attendants ass a little, (actually I would of...uh, nevermind that) and she let me put it in the coat closet of first class.

But from Atlanta to Dallas, it was a Canadair RJ (glorified stretched learjet) it didn't fit in the overhead, and there was no coat closet. There was no room in the cockpit, so it HAD to go below. I stood there and made sure that it was the last bag going on the airplane. Because we are non-revs, if it gets damaged, there not paying for it.

Moral of this story, if you don't have to check it in, DON'T !!!

I've seen other airlines near my gates litterally play soccer with small soft checked in bags. I've seen every item fall out of a bag in the pits. Makeup, clothes, shoes, wallets & money.

And oh yeah, NEVER, I mean NEVER NEVER NEVER check your wallet in. If it falls out of your bag, and it has money in it, your NOT getting it back.

HOPE THIS HELPS !!!

[Flatpicker]

Here’s a link to a document you may be interested in. Haven’t tried it myself, but I know literary 100’s who have and they say it works. Just print it out and flash it to anyone who ask at the airport and you can just carry you instruments aboard. If space is restricted, they may have to check it at the gate, but at least it’s hand carried to the cargo hold and brought back to you as soon as you get off the plane. Of course, this is only in the US and I doubt it’ll work for mics, but you could sure give it a try.

http://firebottle.com/flatpik/hotnew...s_airlines.pdf

[Outlaws]

Well I used to work for the TSA for its first 6 months of exsistance and I can tell you that the mic will be inspected without your or your friend being present if you check the bag. The machines used go off on EVERYTHING. Shoes were a pain in the ass. The rubber on most shoes looks like C4 to the STUPID $500,000 CTX machine. But when stuff like PA equipment and rack mounted processors came through, it was a mandatory search because of the metal case. You can see through it a bit, but you see a bunch of wires = not good.

Now as for the people working there, they are good hearted people like you and me, but I was not the only musician working there and I can tell you, things get "tested". Granted you can't do much to a mic, but if they don't understand it, then if won't get repacked properly.

Here is a good little story just for the hell of it............

So people take stuff like snowboard and ski and baseball bats an hockey sticks and all kinds of things right........and most of the stuff is just tossed in a bag..........

But wouldn't you think that a hockey stick that is completely wrapped in bubble wrap is a little suspicious? I mean......bubble wrap isn't going to keep the stick from getting snapped in half is it gets in a improper position. So maybe its there to keep knicks off of it?

Ah who cares.

That is too deep of thinking.

Lets jsut take it out and play with it.

"Hey, Joe. Go get that roll of masking tape and the buttler."