Howdy Gordy, For the last 5 years I've made an annual pilgrimage to Europe to fly in one of the finest Alpine soaring venues: Hahnenmoospass in Switzerland. Alpine flying is at the exact opposite end of the world from you flat lander types (of which I am one as well). Typical landings are uphill and down wind. Neve a dull moment and you learn how to make an overnight repair on a broken sailplane real quick.
In addition, we have flown at the Interlaken aerotow for the last few years and typically include another country as well on our trips e.g. Germany, Italy, etc. Airlines have included Air France, Delta, Alitalia and a few others I can't recall at the moment plus local Europeans like CitiJet. Having a wife and child allows 6 pieces of luggage: typically 3 Sportubes, 1 big cardboard box with TX, flight batteries, chargers, etc. and 2 suite cases with clothes, v-tails, etc. Planes on the last trip: 4 meter Lunak (2 meter cardboard box in lieu of one Sportube), small Minimoa, electric Escape, electric Graphite and another 2.5 meter electric glider...a something 2000. I fabricated some aluminum stops so the Sportubes cannot close beyond a certain point. I also attached a cable system to keep the two halves from sliding open. All this is to insure that if the locks were ever cut open or not fully engaged in the two case halves, the case would remain secure. Most of the time TSA agents just wipe the case with that special sniffer paper and let them go. Last year I had to open the big cardboard box. I can't remember the last time I had to open a Sportube for inspection. Maybe they figure that a middle age guy with wife and adorable daughter in tow pose no great threat. On the other hand, a single guy who spends a lot of time in search of dirty beaches might raise some security concerns! That's my story and I'm sticking with it. Join us this summer: we leave in mid-July for 2 weeks. Regards, Steve -- SteveR ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SteveR's Profile: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=7591 View this thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=836538 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
