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