Flying your digital camera

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1. Be aware that there is a small chance of radiation damage to your sensor, i.e. dead pixels/red line. There is no reason for paranoia, as millions of miles are flown with cameras without any problems, but if you have a choice, avoid transpolar routes and flying during high sunspot activity.

A good preventive measure is carrying your camera in a vertical position. This reduces the area that can be hit by cosmic rays to virtually zero.

 

2. Take care to comply with hand luggage allowances.

 

3. Your spare batteries must have their contacts taped and be carried in separate plastic bags. They are also allowed to be in their original packaging.

 

4. Most airlines allow a tripod in the hand luggage, it counts as walking stick/umbrella, but make sure you have a note put into your reservation beforehand and have it tagged as cabin luggage at the check-in counter.

 

5. Do not put your camera gear in the checked luggage if you can avoid it. Not only is there a real chance of your luggage getting delayed, lost or damaged, the radiation used for security checking is far stronger than the X-Rays in hand luggage machines.

This is known to have damaged electronic gear like cameras.