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Flying commercial airlines with Dragon

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Keith Van Orden

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Hey guys, I'm the new equipment manager for a small production company that has two RED Epics, one being a Dragon, and I'm wondering what your advice is as far as flying with these precious cameras. We have an upcoming shoot on the opposite coast so I need to begin prepping as soon as possible.

Obviously I would never dream of checking them, right now we keep them both in one Pelican 1600 hard shell case, which is about 2 feet by 18 inches by 9 inches and is probably too big to carry on and safely stow. Do you guys have any recommendations on affordable cases, or sage wisdom that a newbie like me should hear?

Additionally we have two carbon fiber 2 stage Miller tripods that we need to safely transport as well. I was planning on looking into something along the lines of a couple durable golf club bag, something that I could fully seal and then check without worrying too much about it. Would that be wise, or would it be cheaper/safer to just rent the Millers on location?

What do you guys think? Thanks.
 
The Pelican 1510s fit in carry-on very well. But make sure you have them tightly locked (with a TSA lock) in case they have to get gate checked - because they do pop open!

My vote is def rent the Millers locally if you can - probably $50 shipping at least - which is not far off a sachtler 20 rental. (Ok, yeah, the Millers are better)
 
Never gate check, always board early and talk to the airline, I had a 1510 gate checked and never found
 
Jake Wilganowski said:
Never gate check, always board early and talk to the airline, I had a 1510 gate checked and never found
Click to expand...

I agree! We fly with our Epic in a 1510 Pelican. Even if the airline insists on gate checking, tell them 'No.' We've been in that situation a few times, and when we tell them that there's $100k worth of camera gear in there and that we need to keep it with us, they work with us no matter the circumstance. Besides, the 1510 fits under most airline seats so you should always be able to keep it with you.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune, Jake.
 
Renting your tripod(s) locally is definitely a great choice to help with travelling with your gear, but we've never had any issues checking in our O'Connor in a hard shell case or our Miller in it's soft case.
 
I flew to Tuscany in May this year for a 3 day shoot with our CF Dragon into the mountain regions of Tuscany and in Rome. Since then I have flown with the camera to several different states in Australia.

Never put anything into the aircraft hold that you can't afford to never see again! I mean it.

Never put the camera or lenses in the aircraft hold.

Take the camera body onboard with you in carry on luggage. For the Italy trip I took the red camera in the pelican flight 1510 case that red provide it fits carry on dimensions but does exceed the 7 kilo limit for domestic Australian travel. It's 11kilos.

All six L series lenses were taken in a small Lowe Pro stills carry case (with wheels) by a fellow crew member. In fact on that trip I had five cases of gear spread out amongst 4-5 colleagues.

In Dubai and Italy I was screened by Customs they really had never seen a camera like it before and it in the harsh light of airport security it does look nasty military spec.

The real issue is with batteries I had to purchase splittable SWIT batteries to get under the 100kWH limit prescribed by Aviation authorities.

For short hop flights take the Camera is a soft bag pre assembled. Batteries split in cardboard boxes in a chinese shopper was fine.
 
I fly all the time with my epic package, both nationally and internationally (writing from my hotel room). In 20+ years of travel, I have never had anyone lose a case and have it stay lost. Label all of your cases discreetly with your address, cell phone, and email. Don't put stickers and shit on them with brand names or anything that scream "steal me". Ie Red, arri, etc.

Tuff packs are great for tripods. Make sure the tripod goes in a soft bag inside the tube.

I routinely check my back up body and have never had an issue, from SRs, to varicams to reds. I hand check my primes, and my a body. I second bringing enough stuff on the plane to shoot if the rest of your cases get misplaced for a few days.

Good production insurance is a must. You'd be amazed what the airlines turn up ponce an insurance investigator calls them.

Safe travels,

Nick
 
I carry our epic in the hand luggage.
Using Kata 610 backpack. I can bring plenty of extra stuff there too, lenses, hard drives etc.
I also use a Petrol Backpack, one of the biggest ones. Check with the air carriage how heavy the luggage can be. Often it can be almost 20kg.

Good luck.
/Andreas
 
from someone who flies with all their stuff to mexico, jamaica, the DR, vegas, etc, all the damn time, here's my .02.
1- always carry on a backpack/roller (I use an old tamrak thats just legal) with your basic shooting package. 2 full batteries, your brain, at least a couple pieces of glass. This way if your bags are late, or get stuck up in customs, you can shoot with a bare minimum package, even if its hand held and just for show for your client. There's nothing worse than having a client freak out and want their 1st day of production money back because you didn't have your gear. With a small shooting package you can probably at least start the gig and sweat it out in private that your gear is all a day late.
2- try to fly 1st class. trust me, that little "priority" sticker goes a long way and your bags are far less likely to miss a connection.
3- fly only airlines that still have a media rate, and remember to bring a fake "media ID" whatever the hell that means...
4 - ive realized if you bring a drone to a 3rd world country, you can basically have instant friends at customs...they go from shaking their head, to confusion over the carnet, to just inviting half the airport security over and checking out your cool toy...then they forget about the rest and just let you in.
5 - don't crash
 
We travel with our REDs all the time. My recommendation is to get a backpack that you can carry on with camera bodies, lenses and all Lipo batteries. I also always carry on a basic audio kit if interviews are part of the gig, just incase my other bags are delayed or get lost.

Here is what I use: http://www.amazon.com/Ape-Case-Convertible-Backpack-ACPRO4000/dp/B003BEDRJI/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1412096014&sr=8-6&keywords=apecase I can fit our Epic and Scarlet, 5" Touch LCD, 2X RED V-Mounts, 2x ikan 190WH(2x95wh, travel safe batteries), DSMC Side handle, 2x top handles, V-Mount adapters, XLR/15mm Base plate adapters, 6x SSDs and a lectrosonics wireless lav kit in one backpack. Then in another backpack I carry our set of Zeiss CP.2 lenses(18, 35, 50 100), a matte box, follow focus and basic ND and Pola filter kit. I also put my 15" MPB retina in the front pouch along with the charger in one of the side pouches. I can carry both of these on myself fairly easily. They also have wheels, so I usually wheel one and carry one on my back. I've been challenged at the gate before, but if you open up the pack and show them the lenses or cameras they always have been willing to allow me to carry both on. Just make sure you're in the first group to board.

As for the tripods, I would agree... If you need that beefy of the tripod, just rent. If you can go lighter, you can easily check them. I use a DV8SB with our Epics fully loaded and it works great and travels easily. It's extremely light weight and if you remove the head from the sticks it'll actually fit in a normal sized checked luggage bag. Golf bags can work, but you run the risk of the bag getting lost or delayed and then being without a tripod. I've had our Movi case and multiple light kits get delayed more than a couple times in the past year. Luckily it's always been on the way home!
 
Trey Chace said:
4 - ive realized if you bring a drone to a 3rd world country, you can basically have instant friends at customs...they go from shaking their head, to confusion over the carnet, to just inviting half the airport security over and checking out your cool toy...then they forget about the rest and just let you in.
=
Click to expand...
Depends on the country... We had a drone hold us up to the point of missing our flight out of Jordan. Also, the folks in Afganistan were not a huge fan of it...
 
Cameron Currier said:
I agree! We fly with our Epic in a 1510 Pelican. Even if the airline insists on gate checking, tell them 'No.' We've been in that situation a few times, and when we tell them that there's $100k worth of camera gear in there and that we need to keep it with us, they work with us no matter the circumstance. Besides, the 1510 fits under most airline seats so you should always be able to keep it with you.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune, Jake.
Click to expand...

Agreed!
 
A Porta Brace RB-2 Lightweight Run Bag is great for this. I have a Pelican 1520 that it lives in, but for travel, I make sure all the breakable stuff is with me.. I put my epic brain, wrapped in a big red lense wrap, Lithium batteries (you can't check this) and my lenses, wrapped in neoprene bags, all in the Run bag, it's great and carry it on the plane.. it fits in the standard size overheads, no problem.. for the really small commuter jets it fits under the seat.. when I get to my destination, i shuffle everything around if i'm bringin my big pelican hardcase..
 
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