Carry my chainsaw on airplane?

cockroachfarm

cockroachfarm

Joined
Jan 6, 2001
Messages
4,399
I'd like to know what I have to do to carry my medium-sized chain saw on an airplane? Sneak it through in my shorts and hope it doesn't accidentally engage? Cover it in lead sheeting and hide it between the back pages of a Stephen King paperback? Hang it from my keychain and drop it nonchalantly, with my wallet, in one of those plastic trays?

:D

Seriously, I do a lot of travelling and I really can't stomach one more thread about "what can I carry/sneak onto an airplane?"

(Hey! My first complaint - now I really feel like a true Forumite!)

I consider myself as big a knife-knut as anyone, but I can't see ANY reason for "needing" to carry anything larger than a tiny SAK on my keyring onto an airplane. Unless you are travelling without ANY checked luggage in which you can safely transport your 12-inch tactical folders, why would ANYONE subject one of their precious - and expensive - "tools" to the whims of "The Airport Security Squad" ("coming to NBC this Fall!")

Educate me, please. I'm only here to learn. ;)
 
It is probably O.K. as long as it has never been fueled and you can prove that it has never been fueled. This will include factory testing. Airlines are fussy about flamable liquids.

Will
 
cockroachfarm said, "why would ANYONE subject one of their precious - and expensive - "tools" to the whims of "The Airport Security Squad"

I travel a lot, too. About 800 or so flights over the last 10 years. My question is "Why would anyone want to trust one of their knives to the "Airport Luggage Patrol?"

Seriously, I really am more worried about my knives getting lost/stolen in my checked luggage than having security confiscate/steal knives in my carry-on.

I try not to carry my deathmaster 2000 on the plane, but a 3 inch or less in the carry-on hasn't caused any problems yet. I'm going to Japan on Saturday - we'll see how that pans out.

Oh, and crf, you just started another one of those threads you can't stomach ;)

Dean
 
Well,I fly a couple times a year,yet more than once my checked bags did not end up where I did at the end of the day.Once due to a plane crash I was rerouted to another city along with thousands of others.Let me tell you hotels fill up fast and I was put up in a sh*thole in a really bad part of the city,clerk behind bullet proof glass,poster of a S&w revolver with the words "use this add ten years to your sentence" at the door.Now I fly prepared for anything.:(
 
Where we get into difficulty is in trying to tell others what they do or don't "need." That's why laws that forbid certain lengths or types of knives, or the presence of knives in certain places, do more harm than good. It's very important that we not attempt to dictate our preferences -- or even our blind spots -- to others; just because I can't see any reason or "need" for something carried by someone else doesn't mean there isn't one.
 
Originally posted by RDaneel
...Seriously, I really am more worried about my knives getting lost/stolen in my checked luggage than having security confiscate/steal knives in my carry-on...you just started another one of those threads you can't stomach ;)

Dean
Click to expand...

Good point. OTOH, airport security personnel WILL have contact with your knife EVERY time you fly and they WILL make a decision, right then and there, whether they will allow you to carry it on board. A decision based on THEIR interpretation of "the law". A luggage handler, however, probably won't have a very good idea exactly which of the hundreds of pieces he/she handles each day might contain an expensive knife. And if they do, they have to make the decision whether it's worth breaking into a piece of sealed luggage and STEALING it.

I started this thread because once in a while I do like to live dangerously.
 
Originally posted by Razoredj
....it's very important that we not attempt to dictate our preferences -- or even our blind spots -- to others; just because I can't see any reason or "need" for something carried by someone else doesn't mean there isn't one.
Click to expand...

I would probably be the last person to dictate preferences - mine or those of someone else - to anyone! My purpose in starting this thread was to learn WHY people feel they need to take a "substantial" knife ONBOARD an airplane. None of the previous threads have answered my, I guess, naive question - and so far, only one person has answered that question here.

I'm learning.
 
WHY people feel they need to take a "substantial" knife ONBOARD an airplane
Click to expand...

I don't "need" a watch onboard, I probably don't "need" a pen; I guess I "need" a pair of pants. I might need a knife on route to or from that flight, though. I like to get dressed in the morning ... with everything I will, in the normal course of business, use on a normal day. That includes a knife -- even if from time to time I have to fly, or enter a courthouse. It isn't convenient; bureaucracies tend to enjoy proliferating regulations.

If I can't carry my Sebenza, I keep slapping at an empty pocket :D
 
i have been able to take everything so far even serrated knives, only thing that was a no no was my telescoping batton, the guy said that it couldnt fly, so he held it and my ride picked it up on the way out, in most places Airport Sec is pretty good, Only problems i have had were in atlanta, I couldnt understand a thing those people said, i wish that they hired people that spoke some sort of english
 
Originally posted by Esav Benyamin
....I might need a knife on route to or from that flight, though
Click to expand...

Fair enough. However, so far only ONE person has really answered my question -- ie. why they feel they need to carry a more "substantial" knife ONTO the airplane.

The consensus (from previous threads) seems to be "...out of habit, because I feel naked without it."

That's fine. I feel the same way about wearing a wristwatch. However, my "need" to carry ON BOARD a favorite watch, pen, micro-light, etc. usually doesn't involve the legal opinion of the security person in charge of the metal detector.

Still learning.:confused:
 
cockroachfarm: I have been one of the posters asking about the laws of carry on a commercial airlines. I haven't read any messages about anyone wanting to "sneak" a knife on board.

My job allows me to travel quite a bit. Many of my trips involve carry on bags only (anywhere from one night to 10 day trips). With carry on bags the issue is how to have a knife with you in the city you are visiting. That is what most of us are asking about. I personally don't care if I have a knife with me on the plane. I do want a knife with me in the city I am visiting. If the rules were clear, it would be simply a matter of carrying the correct size knife with you on the plane, in your carry on baggage.

Unfortunately it is pretty much been established that there are no hard and fast rules.
 
I'm as big a knife knut as the next guy, but I'm damn glad it's impossible (well, not easy, anyway) to take anything bigger than a SAK onto a flight. There are too many loons out there and the altitude seems to make things worse. The last thing I need to deal with on the way to visit the mother-in-law, is some drunken idiot waving around a Pakistani lockback and jabbering about the Koran.:mad: When I'm on a plane or a ship, it's the captain's rules, end of story. I can live with that.
 
To protect myself and my family from the other passengers. Seriously. Go to any news site and do a search on "air rage". I've witnessed a few near incidents myself. It's just as possible to run into a nut case on an airplane as anywhere else.

-----------

'Scuse me while I whip this out...
 
Originally posted by jayharley
...I haven't read any messages about anyone wanting to "sneak" a knife on board...many of my trips involve carry on bags only....unfortunately it is pretty much been established that there are no hard and fast rules.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Jay. My guess would have been that most of the people asking about what they can carry ON an airplane did so because they had NO checked baggage in which to transport the knife. But no one ever really mentioend that - so I asked.

"Sneak"? I guess I misunderstood those posts (there's one here right now, I believe) inquiring about carrying on undeclared "CIA Letter Openers" and whether or not a particular knife will trigger the metal detector? ;)

Still learning.
 
Raver, if everybody on an airpplane has nothing but the smallest folders, then you probably won't need your large tactical to "protest your family." Think about it, a passenger stabs another on a plane, who do you think is going to look like they are guilty of air rage? I believe in self defense but I think that in an airplane, like in a nightclub or courthouse, it makes more sense to check potential weapons at the door or in luggage than to carry them onto a plane where there really is no use for them besides fighting.
 
I respectfully disagree. I don't think it makes sense in a courthouse or nightclub either. I believe I have a right to protect myself. Period. Anywhere, anytime. On an airplane, who is going to rescue you, the stewardess? Please. Following that line of logic, no one ever needs to learn self defense or carry anything. Let's all depend on the authorities, police, bouncers, whomever. If we've already been dead for 20 minutes by the time they get there, is that OK with you? It isn't with me.

Also, I said nothing about large folders. I wouldn't feel "underknifed" in this situation with a 3 inch folder. I just object to the logic, or rather the lack thereof, in the prohibition of knives of a certain size or type.

I recall a recent news item about some guy going haywire on a flight from Hawaii basically held the whole plane hostage for several hours with a two and half inch folder. I'll see if I can find a link.
 
RDannel,
Please report back on your luck in Japan. I 've heard the won't allow anything including the SAK executive models. Please don't take anything you can't afford to lose,

Bob
 
If there are no weapons on the plane, why do need a knife against someone who is attacking you with his or her bare hands? I'm pretty sure that other passengers would be willing to help if you were being overwhelmed. Wouldn't you help somebody who was being attacked? A plane, courthouse or nightclup is different from the general public because these are very small, restricted spaces in which it is possible to virtually block access to weapons assuming there is competent security. Furthermore, in all of these environments, there are serious down sides to free access to weapons. In a courthouse, there are desparate people who may be facing long prison terms or even death. In a nightclub, there is alchohol and the whole question of men trying to look tough in front of women. On a plane, there is a small pressurized cabin thousands of feet above ground, a serious altercation could result in the death of all the crew and passengers. All of these factors make restricting access to weapons very reasonable to me. In this kind of environment, a small folder to cut thread or clean nails is perfectly adequate.
 
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