air travel with telescopes - better to leave scope at home?

[daveyoung]

I have a holiday in the SW of WA planned for january, and we are flying to and back with Qantas. Whilst the point of this is primarily to catch up with friends, the skies are nice and dark down there, and it would be a great chance to point my (several week old) scope skywards. I've got an 80mm APO refractor (skywatcher), EQ3 mount and thee eyepieces. I have purchased a travelling case for the scope and another for the eyepieces. These cases are certainly rugged enough for me not to be concerned about transporting my scope and accessories around in the large boot of my car, but i am concerned about them withstanding the rigours of air travel.

Whilst the case for the eyepieces would be certainly small enough for hand luggage, I am more worried about the scope, and clowns in camel suits , driving luggage buggies, mishandling my scope in it's travel case. Does anybody know if the airlines allow scopes to be carried on as hand luggage? Would anybody dare check their scope (and mount) in as regular baggage?

I guess the eclipse chasers must somehow transport their large scopes without anything too untoward happening to their equipment?!? Perhaps I should just take my binoculars and leave the scope at home?

Any experiences or suggestions recommended.

[janoskiss]

I took a whole 8" f/4 truss Dob to Europe with me, optics (i.e., mirror box, secondary mirror and eyepieces) in the hand luggage, disassembled mount, trusspoles and other bits in check-in luggage. Worked a treat. But that was just before the whole liquid explosive debacle.

SW ED80 might be a tad too big for hand luggage. Check with the airline/agent for the max size and type of things they allow.

[JimmyH155]

I am in the same situation as you, Dave. It looks likely that I will be sent to Perth for a few weeks soon, and I have been wondering if I could take my Celestron 90mm refractor wobbletronic. I would put the OTA in its original cardboard box with lots of bubble pack. Everything else would go in suitcase - tripod, balance weights, eyepieces. I would not recommend having eyepieces or anything in hand luggage - these days the security cant be trusted not to impound them - may be an offensive weapon:) just wrap them up in your clothes in the suitcase.
I think though, as, not like you, I will be staying in city centre (pollution) , I may just opt for the nokkies and a small tripod. The thought of anything happening to my scope is frightening - I can just picture the scene - there you are waiting to board and watching the loading operation through the windows. Suddenly, at the top of the conveyor, a long thin package falls to the ground oooh aaarghh :mad2: was that my scope:eyepop: ???

[mickoking]

I have a nice little travel scope set up. 80mm short tube on a sturdy slick photo tripod, a couple of eyepieces and a broad band, Lumicon deepsky filter. Very compact :)

[snowyskiesau]

I'm currently in the south west of WA (from Sydney) after a long absence to see how things have changed in 35 years. I solved my observing problem by packing my 20x80 binoculars.
Not as good as a real scope but has the advantage that you can use them during the day for sightseeing.
There are a few bushfires and the smoke has obscurred a few nights viewing.
I have a large brief case which I put my laptop and binoculars in and they arrived unscathed.

[gaa_ian]

I travel with my Astroscan rich Field scope as hand Baggage.
Fits under the seat in front & apart from a few questions from the security people (who have no idea what it is ) I have had no problems !

[foehammer]

So I guess I shouldnt even be wondering how to bring my 8" GEM mounted for a 22hr plane ride from here to downunder huh? :lol:

[janoskiss]

Don't laugh! You might have to forget about the GEM, but a Dob mount could do the job. I flew Melbourne to Amsterdam to Sofia to Budapest and back with an 8" Dob no probs. Here's the scope:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=11358

[daveyoung]

Janoskiss,

Very neat set, excellent for travelling. I'd really like a scope like that, which I could take with me on a motorcycle, and your setup looks like it'd do the job nicely. Ah well, next scope :-)

I've called Qantas, apparently they don't have provision for taking OTAs (which exceed the regular hand luggage size restrictions) on as hand luggage, so you have to take your risks in the hold. They recommend using an air freight express service.

It might just be the laptop and the binoculars for my week in the south west. I can live with that. If I was going to be there for a few weeks, I guess I would consider freighting it across.

best regards,

Dave Young