RE: [Paddlewise] Canadian Customs/flying stoves

>From my experience in flying around the world, occasionally questionable
items, is to put the gear in the hold! Use a samsonite suitcase with a cable
and lock and your gear will rarely be searched on arrival as well. A beat up
suitcase is cheaper then a stove. I would remove all fuel from the stove and
bottles and allow any excess to evaporate before packing. 
 
Occasionally, your suitcase will be x-rayed and they may pull the stove, but
that is unlikely in my experience. 
 
One strange instance was in Japan: I used to distribute a product called the
Signal Buoy which was charged with CO2 Cartridges. I was on my way to a Dive
show in Malaysia and they grabbed all my samples because the CO2 cartridges
showed up on the x-rays of my hand baggage at Narita. 
 
I explained that there was a similar CO2 cartridge under every seat on every
JAL plane, but that didn't help. Finally I removed a cartridge and we
discovered it was manufactured in Japan!  They quickly sent me on my way,
cartridges intact!
 
Sayonara

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
[mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net]On Behalf Of Product
Information Department
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 1998 11:16 AM
To: Patrick Maun
Cc: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Canadian Customs/flying stoves


At 10:07 PM 12/15/98 -0600, Patrick wrote:
>Anyone had any experience bringing Trangia stoves on airplanes? For those
>of you unfamiliar with them, they are basically a small metal pot that
>burns alcohol. The fuel canister looks like your typical MSR canister, but
>it is plastic. I am curious as it uses alcohol and has no moving parts
>weather this would be allowed. IMHO, this is a great stove for kayaking and
>a lot of us here in the midwest use them. They aren't as hot as a white
>gas/propane stove, but they are hassle free (almost no setup time), can't
>break and are completely silent.
>

Hi Patrick,

My employer (Mountain Equipment Co-op) recently wrote to Transport Canada to
clarify the situation around stoves on planes so we could give our customers
the correct information. Some extracts from Transport Canada's reply follow:

"The Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act 1992, and Regulations govern the
safe movement of dangerous goods ... Airline companies are ... governed by
these regulations and are bound to comply. These companies have no
flexibility and if found to be in violation may be prosecuted and fined up
to $50,000 dollars.
In response to your questions, Stoves - lightweight backpacking type, some
with built in fuel bottles, may only be transported by passengers in
backpacks if they have NEVER contained fuel. Once they have contained fuel
then - NO. Fuel bottles - plastic or aluminum - containing fuel - NO. Fuel
types - White gas, propane/methane mix (e.g. Bluet camping gas), methyl
hydrate - NO."

These rules cover any airline flights to or from Canada as far as I know. I
imagine similar laws apply in the US and elsewhere. Frustrating I'm sure,
but I can't blame the airlines: their minimum-wage security guys are
certainly not paid enough to get into debates with folks about whether they
have adequately flushed out stoves and bottles - they need a black and white
rule. And as a passenger, I'd hate to think I might die cos some pinhead
forgot or didn't bother to scrub out his cooking gear. One option I suppose
would be to surface mail your stove to your destination in advance with a
"hold for pick-up" notice. I suspect couriering it would cost more than the
stove would be worth.

Cheers,

Philip T.


****************************************
Mountain Equipment Co-op
1655 West 3rd Avenue,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1
Tel: 640-732-1989
Fax: 604-731-6483
email: pid_at_mec.ca

Visit our website at: http://www.mec.ca
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