Airline travel with TB55 batteries

[wxfloyd]

I commented on a recent thread in the Inspire forum (Matrice 200 subforum) about DJI's decision to only support TB55 batteries on the new Matrice 200 series v2.
Has anyone had any experience traveling via airlines in the continental US with multiple sets of TB55 batteries? From all the research I've done, it sounds like one would be limited with the amount of TB55 batteries they can take, due to TSA restrictions on higher Watt hour batteries.
Long story short, my company was considering a Matrice 210 RTK v2 for drone mapping, inspection (visual and thermal), and aerial LiDAR. We do a lot of work that requires traveling by air throughout the country. If carrying multiple sets of TB55 batteries on airlines proves to be difficult, or even impossible, we may have to reconsider going to the Phantom 4 RTK (using third-party PPK setup) for mapping and visual inspection only for the time being, as it would be much easier to travel with on commercial airlines.
I know we could possibly find a v1 version and use TB50 batteries, but we wanted the new geotagging capabilities of the v2 210 RTK.
I'm also somewhat hesitant about my company buying into a Phantom 4 RTK, as it seems the prosumer Phantom 4 Pro is at or near end of life, unless DJI plans to extend the life specifically for the RTK version (which we all know DJI support won't/can't confirm).

 

[KLAX]

Depending on your company, and the sensitivity of your data, you may want to look outside of DJI. The rumors are true.

That aside, here is an up-to-date link regarding battery carriage in North America.

PackSafe for Passengers

www.faa.gov

TB55 batteries are over 100 watt hours in size / discharge rate. Special category for these larger sized batteries.

Pack Safe – Batteries, lithium

www.faa.gov

Also, please remember, regardless of battery size, all LIPO's must have no more than 30% charge per a recent FAA IFR notice.

FAA Announces Major Policy for Carrying LiPO Batteries on Passenger Airplanes | InterDrone

www.interdrone.com

Hope this helps.

I always ship both the UAV and batteries FedEx. Im sure there are some HazMat concerns or box markings that are required, but nothing on the FedEx shipping request page.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

The M200 series (v2.0) have left a lot of people in your same situation. You have to realistically determine if its possible to ship your batteries ahead of your travel to get them there when you need them - and then determine if you have enough time to ship them home before sending them to your next traveling job. Or, will anyone be driving to the location. We understand each of these options poses different challenges - and having multiple cases of batteries to ship to job sites might work but is expensive. We also wish the TB50s were an option. We have kept some original M210s in stock for this exact reason. But if you need RTK and the ability to use NTRIP or to place your base station on a known survey monument and enter the coordinates of it in the app, the older version does not do this. You can also use Aeropoints (or something similar) but those are something else you will need to travel with (but they can go on the plane with you). If you ever want to talk through the options any further, feel free to drop us a line. We have done a bunch of testing with the P4 RTK as well (with GPC, without GCP, on NTRIP, GNSS only, etc). Thanks!

 

[wxfloyd]

Depending on your company, and the sensitivity of your data, you may want to look outside of DJI. The rumors are true.

That aside, here is an up-to-date link regarding battery carriage in North America.

PackSafe for Passengers

www.faa.gov

TB55 batteries are over 100 watt hours in size / discharge rate. Special category for these larger sized batteries.

Pack Safe – Batteries, lithium

www.faa.gov

Also, please remember, regardless of battery size, all LIPO's must be carried onboard or checked with no more than 30% charge per a recent FAA IFR notice.

FAA Announces Major Policy for Carrying LiPO Batteries on Passenger Airplanes | InterDrone

www.interdrone.com

Hope this helps

I have been looking for manufacturers outside of DJI, but for what we are wanting to do with drones, there doesn't seem to be many options available. The closest we've found is Microdrones, but those get very expensive. But even those don't give us the options we're looking for, the main one being having a gimbled camera that gives us the ability to shoot nadir (or near) for aerial imagery and pan upwards to flow around structures for visual inspection.

 

[wxfloyd]

The M200 series (v2.0) have left a lot of people in your same situation. You have to realistically determine if its possible to ship your batteries ahead of your travel to get them there when you need them - and then determine if you have enough time to ship them home before sending them to your next traveling job. Or, will anyone be driving to the location. We understand each of these options poses different challenges - and having multiple cases of batteries to ship to job sites might work but is expensive. We also wish the TB50s were an option. We have kept some original M210s in stock for this exact reason. But if you need RTK and the ability to use NTRIP or to place your base station on a known survey monument and enter the coordinates of it in the app, the older version does not do this. You can also use Aeropoints (or something similar) but those are something else you will need to travel with (but they can go on the plane with you). If you ever want to talk through the options any further, feel free to drop us a line. We have done a bunch of testing with the P4 RTK as well (with GPC, without GCP, on NTRIP, GNSS only, etc). Thanks!

Shipping is an idea we have considered, but may not be viable for the kind of work and travel we do. I may need to give you a call just to pick your brain and hear your thoughts on the testing you have done.

 

[KLAX]

I have been looking for manufacturers outside of DJI, but for what we are wanting to do with drones, there doesn't seem to be many options available. The closest we've found is Microdrones, but those get very expensive. But even those don't give us the options we're looking for, the main one being having a gimbled camera that gives us the ability to shoot nadir (or near) for aerial imagery and pan upwards to flow around structures for visual inspection.

Domestic (US) OEM's are expensive as hell currently, and vary greatly as far as reliability, available payloads. Intel Falcon 8 (awesome when it works), Lockheed Martin Indago (3 just came out ($$$), FLIR/Aeryon (new acquisition for Flir), Parrot (fixed wing), certain models/partnerships with YUNEEC, Aerovironment Quantix (fixed wing) are just a few alternatives you can look at to avoid the Chinese server farm (assuming your data/imagery is of a <sensitive> nature).

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Shipping is an idea we have considered, but may not be viable for the kind of work and travel we do. I may need to give you a call just to pick your brain and hear your thoughts on the testing you have done.

Sounds good - we would love to help.

If you call (855) 837-6637 pretty much anytime tomorrow you should get me. I am going to be in our retail store all day. My name is Michael.

Thanks!