Headsets on commercial flight?

Jeanie

Jeanie

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Jeanie
I've scheduled my flight from Midland to Dallas to Cleveland on American. I'm going up commercial so I can fly a taylorcraft, with a friend who will be flying another one, as a flight of two down to Savannah, Tenn for the ladies love taildraggers fly in.

I want to take my good headset with me and not check it or mail it ahead. Do you think I'll get hassled by TSA for having my Zulus in hand?
 
Jeanie said:
I want to take my good headset with me and not check it or mail it ahead. Do you think I'll get hassled by TSA for having my Zulus in hand?
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Nope. Atleast I haven't.
 
Jeanie said:
I want to take my good headset with me and not check it or mail it ahead. Do you think I'll get hassled by TSA for having my Zulus in hand?
Click to expand...

I got harassed at BWI over a headset and a handheld. YMMV

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Does harassed mean you weren't permitted to take them on board, or that someone asked annoying questions about it?

I've taken both aviation headsets and transceivers on commercial flights many time without a word from anyone.
 
4CornerFlyer said:
Does harassed mean you weren't permitted to take them on board, or that someone asked annoying questions about it?

I've taken both aviation headsets and transceivers on commercial flights many time without a word from anyone.
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I ended up being allowed to take them on board, but not before they (literally) ripped my carry-on bag trying to get to them, about 15 minutes of interrogation while they were inspecting them and testing for explosive residue, and getting a supervisor involved. The ripped bag was never reimbursed, and I never got any response to complaints. So add about $100 to the cost of the trip for the need to replace the bag.
 
So anyway, I think you'll be fine with your headset at MAF. I took mine on an airliner trip two summers ago. I checked mine, but I don't see why it would matter.

I have a relatively favorable impression of TSA at MAF. Here's the slightly off-topic story explaining why.

The last time I flew commercially out of MAF, the city police had closed the terminal for about an hour, just as I was arriving. It turned out TSA had successfully done their job, stopping a passenger who had bricks of plastic explosives in his carryon. (The passenger was an off-duty soldier -- he wasn't going to blow up an airplane, but he was very stupid to carry that stuff on a plane). An hour later, after the passenger was taken away by city police, TSA was once again efficiently screening passengers, including me. I thought they did a good job.

On the other hand, I'm much less impressed with TSA at another airport visited by the same guy earlier on his trip. At that TSA location they stopped him briefly when they found he had smoke grenades in his carry on. Upon finding the grenades, they just admonished him (didn't arrest him) and didn't search his bags carefully enough to discover the bricks of plastic explosives that were in the same carryon bag as the grenades. Unbelievably bad job by TSA there.

Anyway, take your headset and enjoy your trip.
 
I just carry it separate from my carry-on so they can get a good look at it. I've probably flown 15 times with my headset and I've never been given any trouble.
 
When I picked up the Cardinal I flew one way commercial with my flight bag. I'm sure many others have done the same. They did poke in my brightline bag with the usual swab check for explosives residue but they do this with my laptop bag too. The guy commented that the brightline bag has a lot of pockets. As they were doing it I explained that I was a pilot travelling to ferry an airplane home and they were quite friendly about it. This is at Logan Airport in Boston. No problems and it didn't take any longer than usual.
 
I've never had any issues with it, you shouldn't either. I think the big airports might care more.
 
Overall you should be fine. My experience is that the smaller airports have security that seem to spend more time digging into people's bags. Less travelers means they get more quality time with each traveler. :) I rarely get hassled at O'Hare and almost always get slowed down at San Diego.
 
Just make sure its in the bin and on top where they can see it, I do this with all electronics, and if you are checking a bag, I'd recommend making them easily accessible as well. And don't put any food in your checked bag either.
 
And if you're in the Cleveland area in a Taylorcraft you need to swing by Alliance to say hello to Forrest and let you Tcraft see its 'birth place' again :D
 
I carry my headset onto airliners all the time when travelling for PIC, and I've never had a problem. No way I check the tools I absolutely need to do my job at the other end. I wear it with the ANR turned on whenever I'm in a Dash-8, too, and never had a problem there, either.
 
Is there any regulations that would keep a student pilot or anyone for that matter from bringing a portable radio and headset on board and listening in during a commercial flight?

I fly a good bit commercially and I miss the days where we could tune the headsets in the airplanes to the ATC.
 
JasonM said:
Is there any regulations that would keep a student pilot or anyone for that matter from bringing a portable radio and headset on board and listening in during a commercial flight?

I fly a good bit commercially and I miss the days where we could tune the headsets in the airplanes to the ATC.
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Regulations? Don't know. But, I know most airlines specifically list AM/FM radios as prohibited items during any phase of flight. Yes, they're just receivers, but I think the concern is the amount of radio interference that will leak. On a poorly designed radio it could be an issue (well, at least as much of an issue as any other portable electronic device).

I think you're MUCH more likely to get hassled by a flight attendant if you're sitting there with a "funny looking headset" connected to a "radio" than by TSA who could care less what the device does.
 
JasonM said:
Is there any regulations that would keep a student pilot or anyone for that matter from bringing a portable radio and headset on board and listening in during a commercial flight?
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Yes. Use of any radio transmitter or receiver (receivers radiate, too, albeit not nearly as strongly) of any type is forbidden by the airlines on commercial flights under authority of 14 CFR 91.21 and 121.306. Only exception is WiFi devices on aircraft with approved onboard WiFi systems.
 
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Only carried my Bose onboard a few times. Never had an issue. Like Ron, I wore it the one time my company stuck me on a Dash 8. FAs didn't say a word about it. They didn't even tell me I had to turn it off for takeoff or landing, unlike the Quiet Comfort headset, which always seems to get the evil eye for takeoff and landing.
 
Jeanie said:
I've scheduled my flight from Midland to Dallas to Cleveland on American. I'm going up commercial so I can fly a taylorcraft, with a friend who will be flying another one, as a flight of two down to Savannah, Tenn for the ladies love taildraggers fly in.

I want to take my good headset with me and not check it or mail it ahead. Do you think I'll get hassled by TSA for having my Zulus in hand?
Click to expand...

VanDy said:
Just make sure its in the bin and on top where they can see it, I do this with all electronics, and if you are checking a bag, I'd recommend making them easily accessible as well. And don't put any food in your checked bag either.
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I've flown in and out of DTW and IAD fiveish times with my headset (David Clark) and never had a problem. I don't take it out of my flight bag either. Next weekend we get to see what happens flying out of DCA, but I haven't noticed the security there to be any different than anywhere else, so I don't anticipate a problem.
 
JasonM said:
Is there any regulations that would keep a student pilot or anyone for that matter from bringing a portable radio and headset on board and listening in during a commercial flight?

I fly a good bit commercially and I miss the days where we could tune the headsets in the airplanes to the ATC.
Click to expand...

United still has it on "most" of their planes. If you get one of the PMCO aircraft with Dish Network, you're out of luck. For anything unless you want to pay.

Ron Levy said:
Yes. Use of any radio transmitter or receiver (receivers radiate, too, albeit not nearly as strongly) of any type is forbidden by the airlines on commercial flights under authority of 14 CFR 91.21 and 121.306. Only exception is WiFi devices on aircraft with approved onboard WiFi systems.
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Bingo.
 
why would it be a problem? I see a lot of people saying what happened but why would a headset be a concern? There are so many other kinds of listening headsets...why yours?
 
Last time I flew with my headset I peeked on the xray to see what it looked like. Just looks like a normal set of earphones to me. Haven't ever been stopped by TSA even as a fairly frequent traveler, much less for a headset
 
pilotod said:
why would it be a problem? I see a lot of people saying what happened but why would a headset be a concern? There are so many other kinds of listening headsets...why yours?
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because of the battery and the wires and how it is portrayed on the x-ray machine if its inside of a carry on with other stuff around it. in a bin by its self it will be a non issue. just like laptops and other electronics
 
pilotod said:
why would it be a problem? I see a lot of people saying what happened but why would a headset be a concern? There are so many other kinds of listening headsets...why yours?
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VanDy said:
because of the battery and the wires and how it is portrayed on the x-ray machine if its inside of a carry on with other stuff around it. in a bin by its self it will be a non issue. just like laptops and other electronics
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That and the fact that the highly trained members of the TSA seem to get their panties in wad when they see something that could be used to fly an airplane. Remember a few years ago when people where being scrutinized because they were carrying books on how to fly?? You know, because only a terrorist would want to learn how to fly.
 
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Ghery said:
United still has it on "most" of their planes. If you get one of the PMCO aircraft with Dish Network, you're out of luck. For anything unless you want to pay.



Bingo.
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Thanks. I didn't know that. I haven't flown on United for a long time. May have to book a trip with them to see if that's the case next time. :)
 
My wife and mechanic carried two headsets, portable intercom, handheld nav/com, handheld gps, charts, etc... on board two flights with last minute, one way tickets which subjected them to special inspection at security. Nobody said ANYTHING about the aviation paraphernalia.
 
ebykowsky said:
Last time I flew with my headset I peeked on the xray to see what it looked like. Just looks like a normal set of earphones to me. Haven't ever been stopped by TSA even as a fairly frequent traveler, much less for a headset
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I took my french horn as a carry on once and peeked at the x-ray display. It was really cool! Funky colors, and you could see inside the valves and whatnot.

Ghery said:
United still has it on "most" of their planes. If you get one of the PMCO aircraft with Dish Network, you're out of luck. For anything unless you want to pay.

Bingo.
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I heard that they were adding Channel 9 to all the CO aircraft too. Of course it wouldn't be near done...or even started. But they may have changed their minds. I don't know.
 
The only thing I have to remember taking out of my flight-bag is a knife and some tools that usually hang out somewhere in the side pockets. The rest of the stuff, GPS, handheld, CO-detector and headset has never raised anyones interest.
 
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