How to Fly with Paintball Equipment

I play for the scenario paintball team Pub Crawling http://www.pubcrawling.org . We travel all over the United States and we have traveled internationally to both England and Scotland to play paintball events.  To attend so many events that are spread out so far apart geographically requires a lot of air travel.  Certainly flying in this post 9/11 era has changed dramatically and as an air traveler you can pretty much expect a full blown strip search when passing through the security gate.  But that does not mean that flying with your paintball equipment has to be difficult.

This Instructable will show you how to pack your paintball gear and fly with it safely on any major carrier.   

Packing list:

Playing Gear
2x Jersey
Planet Eclipse Etek 3
Tools
Batteries
Vforce Grillz Mask
Planet Eclipse Paintball Pants
Planet Eclipse Paintball Pack
Planet Eclipse Elbow Pads
Planet Eclipse Knee Pads
Planet Eclipse Slider Shorts
Planet Eclipse Gauntlet Gloves
Paintball Hopper
Paintball Compressed Air Tank
Paintball Head Wraps
Radio Equipment
Bar towels to wipe things down with

Casual or Personal Items
Cargo Pants with zip off legs
2x spare socks
2x spare underoos
Planet Eclipse T-Shirt
Planet Eclipse Board Shorts
Planet Eclipse Polo Shirt
Toiletry Bag (you know what you need better than I do)
Cigars

Q: Wait why no paintball pods?
A:   I play on a scenario paintball team, our paintball pods are all bought in bulk and brought to events with all of the other "Team Gear".  If you need to bring pods put them in your pack and then fill them with small items like your socks, underwear, and tools.

Step 1:

Here is an empty Planet Eclipse paintball gear bag.  It has two compartments that are separated with a divider.  The large compartment is where the bulk of the playing gear will go.  The smaller compartment I use for personal items such as spare clothes and my toiletry bag.

Comments

[didgitalpunk]

wath out because i do not think you can atually bring a lighter with you on the plane

[pubcrawlingpb]

In the United States the TSA deregulated common "Bic" style lighters in 2007:

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/sop/index.shtm

International rules may vary but I believe that the US was the only country to ban Bic lighters.

[DJ Radio]

When I first saw this ible, I thought you would be assembling your equipment so that you could actually fly, like with a jetpack or something.

[Kiteman]

Considering the fact that I have never been able to leave the country without a frisk, even years before 9/11, and always set off the metal detector even when the only metal on my body is my fillings, I'm not even going to try to fly with a paintball marker!

Having said that, nice guide.

[pubcrawlingpb]

Thanks.

We get asked all the time how we fly with this type of paintball gear so it made sense to write up a guide.

These days I consider an enhanced pat down just part of the excitement of flying. I mean generally I have to pay someone to touch me the way a TSA agent does.