NavList:

   

Reply

A few months ago, I traveled on Southwest Airlines.  One of the items a
person attempted to bring on the plane was a GPS.  This made the airline
personnel extremely nervous, and the person was forced by the airline to
check it.  On the departing flight and the return trip, it was announced
that GPS units are prohibited as carry-on luggage.  This made good sense to
me in the world since September 11, 2001.  I do not believe that security
would have a problem with a sextant.  Although I would not advertise that
you have a sextant and intend to carry it onto the plane.

Andrew M. Corl


-----Original Message-----
From: Navigation Mailing List [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]
On Behalf Of Fred Hebard
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 12:38 AM
To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
Subject: Re: Air travel with a sextant

Alex,

An important part of my plan is to have enough time to leave the
security station and go back to the ticket counter to check the sextant
as luggage, and to have appropriate packing materials at hand.  A
disadvantage there would be that the inspectors at the x-ray station
for checked luggage might not know what the sextant is, so might chose
to open up the box.

However, my impression on talking to the federal aviation security
officers was that they would be impressed by the sextant and let it
through, and would also respect your desire to carry it on board as an
indication of your reluctance to see it get damaged. Many of them are
ex military and the sextant still has a lot of mystique and power
associated with it.   You might need to have a decent answer to the
question, "what about a GPS?"  In Frank's citation,
http://www.eham.net/forums/Elmers/26573, it appears the security
officials may have wanted to look at the sextant because of its
mystique power, not because they considered it dangerous.

Fred

On Dec 8, 2004, at 11:23 PM, Alexandre Eremenko wrote:

> Fred,
> Thank you. Please inform me when you try.
> What happens with the items security does not let through?
> (I would rather pack my sextant in the luggage then loose it).
> Alex.
>
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Fred Hebard wrote:
>
>> On Dec 8, 2004, at 10:48 PM, Alexandre Eremenko wrote:
>>
>>> I remember this question was asked once on this list
>>> but I've never seen a reply:
>>> How does security control react on a sextant
>>> when you travel in an airplane?
>>> (I mean after September 11).
>>> Can anyone share his/her experience?
>>> I suppose you don't check it in with your luggage.
>>> Alex.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I assume that one wouldn't want to put a sextant in checked luggage if
>> at all possible.
>>
>> I asked the federal security officers at several airports about
>> whether
>> it could be carried on board.  Tools are not allowed in carryon
>> luggage, but the officers did not regard the sextant as a tool.  Now
>> clearly sextants are fairly heavy metal objects, but, again, they did
>> not appear to regard it as a prohibited object.
>>
>> I could never get a firm answer from the officers that a sextant would
>> be allowed aboard.  They said that question would be decided by the
>> supervisor of the watch on duty when I passed through at the time of
>> passage.  So no advance assurance was offered that the sextant would
>> be
>> allowed through.  Thus one might be able to carry it on board on one
>> leg of a flight but not the return leg.
>>
>> Thus my plan was to arrive extra early at the airport so I would have
>> time to check the sextant if it didn't pass security, and to have a
>> plan for further packaging as checked luggage.  I have not yet
>> implemented the plan.
>>
>> Fred
>>
>

   

Reply