- "Will I have to unpack my canopy or my reserve canopy?
Oh my gosh."
In this video we talk about how to travel safely
with your skydiving gear on airplanes. Let's go.
(upbeat music)
- What's up, sky divers?
It's Catherine from Skydive Vibes,
sharing the passion of skydiving
and helping you become better and safer skydivers.
So if you're new here, consider subscribing.
I don't know about you,
but when I did first travel with my own skydiving gear,
I was a little bit anxious about the process
and going through the airport security with my equipment,
wondering if they would actually mess up
with my container and my rig.
So this is why I decided to do this video
to give you advice, tips and tricks
to make sure that your travels will go smoothly.
Alright, so by taking a commercial plane
with your skydiving equipment, you really have two options,
either you check in your skydiving rig,
or you bring it on board.
My personal favorite is to keep my rig with me at all times,
so that I can keep an eye on it
and make sure that nobody else messes with it.
So if you keep it with you, you will have to go
through the airport security with your rig.
But before you do so, make sure to,
one, remove the hook knife.
Of course, they won't allow you to have a knife on board,
so you could just put it in your luggage that is checked in.
And the next thing that you can do
is to tie up your reserve handle.
So you could use tie wraps,
two tie wraps, on your reserve handle
so that if someone tries to pull your reserve,
at least it's gonna be more cumbersome.
You'll have time to see them
and tell them to stop for a moment,
and then discuss the next steps,
more on that later in the video.
One big advice that goes a long way
is to make sure to keep an eye on your container
as it goes through the X-ray machine.
Keep an eye on the agent who's screening your rig,
so that you can see their facial expression.
This way you're gonna be able to figure out
if they are used to seeing that type of equipment,
or they are getting worried.
And if you are required to provide explanation,
well, make sure to smile.
That always goes a long way.
And make sure to be kind and helpful.
Most of the time, and in my experience,
they will simply swab your container,
in search for chemicals or gunpowder or stuff like that.
So before traveling, of course,
make sure that your container
is not in contact with those elements.
And also be careful when you see that green grass going on.
It might have been fertilized not long ago.
So if you lay your container on the grass,
you may pick up some fertilizer,
which will appear on the swab test,
so be careful of that.
And I was personally warned about that
because I went to Arizona,
and there's not a lot of grass there,
but the landing area is always green,
so I was told to be careful about that,
because they are often fertilizing the grass patch.
Alright, another element that may
trigger the TSA agent is your AAD.
For that matter, keep the explanation simple.
It is an electronic device designed to save my life
in the event where I fail to properly deploy my parachute.
As simple as that.
You will want to stay away from terms like explosive,
so stick to electronic activated cutter.
Two more things.
When you buy an AAD,
you'll see that the manufacturers are often sending you
kind of an image of the X-ray
of your container with the AAD inside,
and this is meant to be used in those cases.
So make sure, I know that for CYPRES,
they are providing you a card like that
that you can use to show the security
and tell them, "If you're seeing exactly that,
everything's perfectly normal with my container."
So keep that handy.
And also before traveling,
you can go to your AAD manufacturer's website.
Sometimes, they do have a section on their website
where you can download documents
that are usually approved by the TSA
or the country you're traveling in.
So as an extra precaution, you can print them
and bring them with you when you're traveling.
About the AAD, you wanna make sure it's turned off,
because sometimes electronic devices,
when they're turned on,
it may arise awareness of the TSA agent.
All right, next, let's talk about,
"Will I have to unpack my canopy or my reserve canopy?
Oh my gosh." Let's talk about that.
So this happens rarely, but sometimes
you may be required to unpack your main canopy.
If so, you can do it.
You are a skydiver,
and if you're traveling with your equipment,
you know how to pack your main container.
So just do so.
But they have to provide you a place to repack your canopy,
so make sure to ask that before.
In some even rarer cases,
they may ask you to deploy your reserve canopy,
and technically, by law they have the right to do so.
Of course, you will want to politely
and calmly try to convince them otherwise.
I've heard some stories where
you can request to see their manager
to discuss that with them.
Since it's a lifesaving device, you can argue
that if we mess with it, you're not allowed to repack it,
and that complexifies everything,
and you can refer them back
to the X-ray card or image that you have,
but in the end, it can happen.
And if so, you might want to think
about something to put your reserve canopy in
and all the other elements
to continue your travel after.
So you gotta think about that probability.
Alright, so that was about bringing your skydiving container
with you in the commercial airplane.
Now, let's talk about if you check your container in.
So of course, I would recommend you
to put your skydiving container
in a hard luggage to protect it.
You may also want to separate
all the other skydiving equipment that you may have,
like your helmet, goggles, altimeters, and stuff like that,
because those elements may trigger curiosity in themselves.
So by separating them, you're removing
the curiosity from your skydiving container.
Note that, if checked, your skydiving container
have slightly more chance of being opened by the inspection.
So you want to stay alert, because they can call your name,
ask you to come to a specific place for security,
so that they will open your case with you.
They are required to have someone with them,
the owner of the luggage, before opening it,
so they will wait for you.
But if you're not attentive,
and you're not hearing that they're calling you,
you may leave in the plane without your skydiving container.
(hands slap) Oh no.
If we talk about traveling
in the United States more precisely,
note that we are allowed to request for a supervisor
at the security to discuss our skydiving container,
if there's any issue, as I said earlier,
and you can review with them
all the documents that you have with you,
and for that, you need to have them with you.
So make sure to print them before leaving
and also visit the USPA website.
There is a traveling section there
with a lot of documents, as well,
that you can print that has been also discussed
with the TSA security screening services
of the United States.
So you do have access to all the tools needed
so that your travel goes smoothly.
Make sure to have them in hand though.
If it happens, and you have a bad experience
with a TSA agent or an airport,
make sure to note the names,
security numbers of those people
and make sure to inform
the USPA's Government Relations department,
and you can find their information on the USPA's website.
This way, maybe someone will be able to act
upon this experience and make sure that other skydivers
are not experiencing the same,
because we are allowed to travel
with your skydiving gear, of course.
And quick note, remember that whenever you're traveling,
you're not only representing you.
You're representing the whole skydiving community
all around the world,
so make sure to stay calm, smile.
It's very important,
so that we can keep traveling without any problems.
If we talk about traveling overseas in other countries,
all the rules may depends on the countries.
So make sure to review the airport rules
wherever you're traveling.
One sure thing whenever we're traveling
with your skydiving equipment
is that nothing is for certain, so anything can happen.
So make sure to be prepared and polite,
whenever something arises.
Now, in all cases, I must say that
there's one specific gear element that you will want to have
whenever you're traveling with your skydiving container.
And it's a gear bag,
and let's discuss that in detail in another video.
But in brief, a gear bag is meant to put
your skydiving container in it to protect the flaps
and everything and also protect your handles.
Here's one from a RigSleeve.
This one is really a sleeve,
and this one is their RigSleeve Unpacked.
I'm gonna discuss those with you
in a future video, so stay tuned.
And of course, you're seeing I have two of those,
so maybe a giveaway's coming up as well.
So make sure to like this video and comment below.
I have a question for you.
What was your experience when you did travel
with your skydiving equipment,
or if you've yet to do it,
what will be your next skydiving travel?
All right, so on that, keep jumping,
stay safe, and blue skies.
(upbeat music)