Some parents on our team prefer to drive, so they pull a trailer.
:ahh: That makes sense. Looks like we have a little job to do before then.
Thanks, John about the bus. Will check it out.
The West Coast teams don’t have a realistic option for driving tools/materials to Atlanta. We pack suitcases, plastic bins, and boxes with a mix of tools, and soft packing materials for the flight. Each team member is allowed a personal luggage piece, a carry-on and one piece for the team. The 50 lb weight limitation and fairly steep fee ($50) for exceeding 50 lb requires us to weigh each piece and balance the materials among the pieces of checked baggage available. It’s not easy or fun, but you can get a lot of tools, parts and materials to Atlanta this way.
Of course, now we won’t have to worry about taking a bandsaw or drill press. Silver lining???
I’m going out on a limb here and assume your flying…
How big of a hassle is getting the tools thru airport security these days?
Wouldn’t it be easier to have your tools Fed Ex’ed to your motel?
Any airport hassle stories?
Lots of ways and most of them are already listed here:
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If you have family / friends that have some free space to spare ship the items to them and pick it up when you get there. And Visa Versa when you leave bring the stuff back to them and arrange for the same carrier who delivered the items to come and pick it up.
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See if anyone on the team has intentions of driving to the Hotel & Event find out if they have some space in their vehicle to take some items with them.
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Bring some stuff on the plane as Luggage. (Don’t exactly know what the Carrier will allow onboard their plane so make sure there’s no chemicals or sharp pointy objects to start with.)
4)Call the Hotel you are staying at and see if they’ll be able to accept & hold a shipped package and ship the items to them.
- Build another crate and ship the stuff to the drayage company and tell them to hold that as well for the Championship. Shipping & Handling Fees need to be delt with by the Team. FIRST can only ensure delivery of the robot and anything inside the crate with the robot. Everything else if I’m not mistaken is the Teams responsibility.
Yep, we fly to/from ATL. We arrive two hours before departure. We stay together as a group as TSA x-rays, opens, waves magic wands, etc. We then reseal the packages (no duct tape, but packing tape, zip-ties, etc.). We actually ship hand carts so we can manage the equipment at both airports. I think the baggade handlers enjoy seeing how high the carts bounce when dropped 10 ft. (We’ve had the bearings broken in wheels, frame bent, etc., all considered normal wear and tear).
Did I ever mention that the Championship should move out west for a couple of years? Jet lag, ticketing lines and cunfosion, waiting for luggage, explaining RC controllers to TSA, should be experienced by the whole FIRST community.
Oh, yeah. Next year there’s a Hawaii regional. If your going, have a nice flight!!
Call your airline and find out their policies. You should be able to check all of your tools but they will not allow any chemicals. If you arrange it before hand and get to baggage check early you shouldn’t have a problem.
Just remember to not make anyone box too heavy. Baggage that is too heavy has a tendency to get lost.
Ususally 1/2 the team wants to drive and the other 1/2 wants to fly. This works out nicely because if we have 6 car loads of people going down there anyway, it usually isn’t that hard to bring a box of buttons or whatnot along. Of course the drive is only about 11 hours for my team, this option may not work for others.
I would suggest that you talk to local teams that are attending the Championship. We had this problem last year and we had some local teams willing to help us bring our tools to the event.
No hassle at all - they simply will not be allowed past security. No wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers…
Checked luggage is a different story. Anything solid (metal, wood) shouldn’t be an issue. Any liquids, powders, etc - forget it.
IMHO, options (in order of preference)
- Drive (or have someone drive)
- Ship to hotel/friend/local team/some parent’s business office in ATL…
(2a - ship by bus! Cheap, reliable, and they’ll hold it a day or two for you) - Checked luggage
- Buy all new tools there :yikes:
Don
Hi Guys,
We are near Atlanta, and have extra room in our team trailer.
If you run out of options, give us a call. You can ship it to us and we’ll haul it down to ATL for you.
You can find our contact info at www.ForsythAlliance.com.
- Rick Folea
Team Mentor
If you are from the west coast, carrying your tools is definitly your cheapest option. Back in the day, we packed a craftmens roll around tool box that locks with about 40 lbs worth of tools in it (10 lbs for the actual box), the rest we carried in individuals’ suitcases and bags. We even checked dewalt drill cases and such without a problem. The trick is to make sure all of your tools is accounted for at the end, we had a couple of pieces that got lost in the process.
You can pretty much check anything. When the nationals were still at Disney world, I remember stopping by the racetrack and I picking up a used nascar tire for $5 bux (it just looked cool), I checked the tire in at the airport without a problem.
well the nice part about my team being on the east coast is we can easily take a bus down to atlanta with our tools and stuff
We too like the Forsyth Alliance are close to Atlanta. We are about 20 minutes from the gorgia Dome. I myslf am about 40 minutes. So if you need to ship tools to someone, let me know. I have to clear it with my mentor, but I highly doubt it will be a problem
Thanks ForsythAlliance and CircuitRunners. We are weighing out our options, and will contact you if we will would like to send our stuff your way.
The only problem to that is there are not any cities ideally suited to host the Championship Event out west that are still warm enough in April to permit teams to spend time outside in tee shirts. The trick of finding a Convention Center right next to a football/basketball/hockey stadium is not that easy, and Atlanta right now has the best location/facilities for hosting the Championships of any city in the U.S. 
2 years ago Delta airlines let our team onto the plane with 3 4’ sections of angle iron and a 1" Diameter wooden stick onto the plane. But confiscated my mothers sewing needles O_o. I don’t advise just showing up with stuff, in case they don’t let you on the plane.
Most of California is warm enoguh, is I would assume Nevada, Arizona, and other states in this area are. And I think that there has to be at least one compatible arena on the West Coast, even if you limit yourself to these three states.
We’ve always checked in 4-5 crates worth of tools and materials without any hassle from the airlines. We even check in our robot transporter and tape the two handles to the base of the cart. For metal extrusion and long stuff like that we usually ship it off with the robot to each event. I wouldn’t recommend attepting to bring anything robot-related onto carry on, although I believe last year on the flight to Pacific Northwest 254 brought their lexan hopper on board. That was entertaining 
thats funny … well thats america