New travel rules - lithium batteries Effective Jan 1 2008

[Mark]

This was bound to happen. Visit the site listed at the end of this post for more details regarding traveling with lithium batteries.

Effective January 1, 2008, the following rules apply to the spare lithium batteries you carry with you in case the battery in a device runs low:

* Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
* You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
* You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
* Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

The following quantity limits apply to both your spare and installed batteries. The limits are expressed in grams of “equivalent lithium content.” 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours:

* Under the new rules, you can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content. All lithium ion batteries in cell phones are below 8 gram equivalent lithium content. Nearly all laptop computers also are below this quantity threshold.
* You can also bring up to two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold. Examples of two types of lithium ion batteries with equivalent lithium content over 8 grams but below 25 are shown below.
* For a lithium metal battery, whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the limit on lithium content is 2 grams of lithium metal per battery.
* Almost all consumer-type lithium metal batteries are below 2 grams of lithium metal. But if you are unsure, contact the manufacturer!

This is from http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html

[Tooofast]

Ya last race I went to flying back they confiscated a 1320 Lipo and a starter box battery.

[Mark]

Ya last race I went to flying back they confiscated a 1320 Lipo and a starter box battery.

WTF What did they say ?

[Tooofast]

I got back to Boise and there was a paper saying that my stuff had been gone through in my bag and I went to the baggage department and they told me I needed to contact the Spokane airport and I never did cause I figured all I would of gotten was a bunch of B.S. that's nothing I went to one race and didn't get to even take my car cause they swabbed the tank and of course it had nitro residue in it and they wouldn't let it pass unless I took the tank out and I sure in hell wasn't doing that. so I since then have learned to clean my stuff very well with simple green and hide my batteries better.

[jinxed]

It is a now win situation.You carry it on is is a hastle.You put it in your luggage if it is stolen then Airlines will not cover it.Your almost best if you ship to race you are flying to and have it waiting for you when you get there and ship it back after the race.

[Mark]

I had forgotten about the Nitro stuff. Wow this is crazy. Looks like a new business for couriering RC stuff to races needs to be born