I'm looking for firsthand experience from people who have transported their paramotor equipment on US airlines. I have been to fly-ins where people there brought their kit along with them on commercial airlines, so it seems it is possible. The kits are within size and weight tolerances, at least for oversized/overweight checked bags. The sticking point is the gasoline engine. It's possible the kit was checked as "sporting goods", which is true, but if analyzed by the airline, might be summarily rejected, and the trip ruined.
Obviously the system would need to be purged of all liquid fuel and all vapors, which is not hard to do. That seems to be sufficient for the TSA, but then you need to make sure the airline agrees (see below: " ? Check with Airline ").
Here is the link to the TSA page concerning Engine-powered Equipment Completely Purged of Fuel
The only positions I can find for the airlines are for "lawn equipment", and they say, generally, "if it's ever contained fuel, you may not check it." But paramotors are not lawn equipment, they are sporting goods.
United offers the possibility of getting a "letter from the company the purged the fuel". Presumably brand new motors (that have never had fuel) would be allowable OR the fuel source is removed AND the fuel is purged. But the guidance on their site seems ambiguous.
Question
When you traveled with your PPG kit, were you successful getting your paramotor into checked baggage? How did you describe it? Did you have any kind of proof from the "company that purged the fuel"? When did you travel (recently, a long time ago)? Where did you fly from and to? Did you contact the airline in advance for pre-approval or guidance? Anything else you did or didn't do?
I'm NOT interested in exploring techniques for how to purge the liquid fuel and fuel vapors. I know there are some techniques (turpentine) and odor masking (dryer sheets), but that's not what I'm trying to explore here. I'm concerned that a perfectly purged motor will STILL be rejected, and how to get around that problem.
I'm also NOT interested in a freight forwarding solution. I realize that UN/ID Number 3166 (Engine, internal combustion, flammable liquid powered), Class: 9, EQ: E0, ERG: 9L may be transported under special provision A70 if certain conditions are met (no liquid fuel and no vapors and fuel lines are sealed, capped or connected to the motor). In that case the article may be labeled "Not Restricted" on the Air Waybill and accepted into the cargo hold of an aircraft. But a freight forwarding solution isn't what I'm interested in here.
I have spent several hours on the phone with various airlines and come up with nothing substantive; the people I've managed to actually talk with were uninformed about the specifics of this problem. Email inquiries to baggage-specific email addresses have gone unanswered. There is probably some airline employee that knows the specifics, but I have been unable to communicate with any of those employees.
