box for tools or other items. In terms of the
latter, I’d reduce that to a minimum and I’d
do my best to rely on friends who are driving
to the site for such support items.
The best way to facilitate inspection
would be to make easy-to-open boxes that
hold the models in racks in a way that makes
the models easy to look at. For a typical RC
model, I’d try to face the wing opening
toward the lid of the box to make it easy for
the inspectors to look inside the model.
Before packing the model for the trip both
ways, I’d flush out the fuel tank and engine
using castor oil. This will help to replace any
residue with an acceptable substance.
What I have written are simply my ideas
and are intended as a place to start. We are
working on a complete set of guidelines, so
look for them on the AMA Web site.
We are also working on having some
models in typical shipping cases run through
the test center the TSA maintains. This will
allow some of the images to become a part of
the training information provided to the TSA
inspectors. It should help them understand
what a model will look like to reduce the
likelihood of it creating any more concern
than is necessary. The trick, in this situation,
is to educate the modelers and the TSA
inspectors in terms of what to do to minimize
travel problems while maintaining acceptable
levels of security for all of the traveling
public.
Errors will be tilted in the direction of
increased security, so it behooves us to do our
best to try to make such inspections easy and
to cooperate in any way we can.
Personally, if I were going to an important
contest, I’d seriously consider sending the
models by air freight a couple of days before
my departure, and pick them up upon arrival.
This may cost more, but as airlines are
becoming more critical of amounts of
LAST MONTH I wrote of the problems
encountered by a few members and expected
to affect more members transporting models
as baggage via commercial aircraft. Research
into this problem has continued with some
interesting results.
The problem with the “sniffers” appears to
be more isolated than we originally thought. It
does happen occasionally, but rarely.
Jay Mealy, Steve Kaluf, and I had a
meeting with the folks at the Transportation
Safety Administration (TSA), and we came
away with a much better understanding of
their task and how we should proceed. We are
drafting a document that will outline how to
prepare for travel by airline with models.
Understand that there is no “magic pass”
that will allow any baggage to be treated
different from any other. Please reread that
last sentence, as it is important that you
understand it. There will not be any special
procedure for screening baggage containing
model airplanes.
A model box must never contain any of
the items included on the prohibited list of
items allowed in checked baggage. This
should be obvious, but you need to check that
list to ensure that you do not violate this rule.
People can be arrested for infractions, so be
very careful in this area.
All baggage is subject to search, and most
will be X-rayed, looking for suspicious
content. Many items in a model airplane,
particularly Radio Control (RC), may cause
concern when viewed on an X-ray, so you
must assume the box will be opened and
visually searched.
Hinged covers with easily released latches
will ease inspection. The practice of screwing
the lid down with a number of screws would
probably result in your showing up at your
destination without your models.
Typically, you will not be present when
the box is searched, and you will not be
allowed to talk to the inspector! This
surprised me, but it is intended to minimize
the prospect of an individual talking the
inspector into a lesser search.
To facilitate inspection, Plexiglas
windows in the box would not be a bad idea,
but they would not substitute for easy-to-open
boxes. My recommendation would be to put
just the models into a box and have a separate
Dave Brown AMA president
President’s Perspective
baggage and charging much more for excess
than they did in the past, the difference may
not be as much as you think.
As this is being written, an airliner crashed
a few days ago in Charlotte, North Carolina,
and the concerns about what caused the crash
include baggage weight and its effect on the
aircraft’s center of gravity. I’m sure this will
not help our situation regarding shipping
model boxes as baggage.
An alternative may have to be developed
that coordinates those traveling in privately
owned vehicles with those flying
commercially, in an effort to have the models
transported to the event. If you are driving to
an event and have the room, your fellow
modelers would appreciate it if you were to
volunteer that space to transport their models.
I suspect they would be happy to help with
expenses.
Aeromodeling lost two of its real champions
with the passing of William G. (Bill) Bennett
and Bill Brown.
Bill Bennett was the visionary who
established and sponsored the Tournament of
Champions (TOC) in Las Vegas. Beginning
in 1974, this tournament has grown into an
event that rivals the World Championships in
stature.
I will always remember the image of Bill
Bennett arriving late in the evening at a hotel
room where several of us were repairing Ivan
Christensen’s model at an early TOC. Bill
was wearing an elegant suit with a “racing
stripe” of balsa dust down the front, having
sawed a block of balsa down to size for us to
replace a lost wingtip!
Such was Bill’s love for aeromodeling and
aeromodelers. He will be missed in many
ways.
Bill Brown was the person credited with
the creation of the “gas” engine for model
airplanes. His creation was first used by
Maxwell Bassett in a model airplane entered
against the rubber models in 1933. To say it
revolutionized the sport would be an
understatement of huge proportions.
Many of today’s older modelers,
including myself, had a Brown Jr. as their
first engine. MA
’Til next month.
Dave Brown
AMA president
[email protected]
April 2003 5
There will not be
any special procedure
for screening baggage
containing model
airplanes.
04sig1.QXD 1.24.03 9:34 am Page 5
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/04
Page Numbers: 5
