Our flights are booked, we are ready to go. Going from Hannover with an ICE train to Hamburg, getting on board the airplane to Dubai, 5 hour overlay and then off to Beijing. I bet we are totally done when we arrive. The plan for the next day is an extended Great Wall trip with our friends that live in Beijing.
During the preparations for the trip I checked with Emirates on how to bring my DJI Phantom 4. You are only allowed to take the drone with you in the checked in luggage! But on the other hand the lithium ion batteries must always be carried in a carry-on bag. As I mentioned in my last steemit post, it's useful to check the Watt-hour (Wh) of all your batteries. It's also advised to pack the batteries in safe LiPo bags.
There are no IATA guidelines regarding the drone itself. Last year we flew from London to LA and I transported the drone in my carry-on backpack. They check the backpack in Hannover and London. In London I even had to take out all the batteries, talk to a supervisor and wait for about 10-15 minutes before he came back and told me that everything is fine:) On the way back we had no trouble at all!
On the Emirates website are detailed information regarding the transportation of drones. Even if you travelled with an Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Dubai for example with your drone in your backpack, you'll not be allowed to bring it on a connecting Emirates flight! So be aware of those circumstances.
I'm pretty excited how traveling with a drone will turn out in China. There are even security checks at the train stations. Our first journey in China will be a train ride from Beijing to Xi'an.
Next post will be about all the gear which we bring with us! So stay tuned Steemians:)
Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash