UPDATE February 14, 2007 - TSA Changes Again

After 9/11/2001, the new Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) effectively banned CO2 cylinders from passing through their security checkpoints.  This policy was amended in March 2006 mimicking the FAA's long tested policy.  However, once again the TSA has banned the cylinders in a major sweep of their regulations after the arrests in England that led to the temporary ban on liquids and gels.

CO2 cylinders are currently banned from all security checkpoints in U.S. airports as of November 2, 2006.

An effort is underway currently to request that the TSA reverse their decision once again.  Additionally, the request asked for a more permanent solution.  The TSA has advised that not only will this go through the administrative process within TSA, but the final decision to the request will most likely end in the White House.  The TSA has advised that this process may be completed in June 2007.

Do not take your CO2 cylinder(s) to the airports.

WHAT ALTERNATE METHODS OF SHIPPING YOUR CO2 CYLINDERS
DO YOU HAVE?

  • Preferred - Ship your CO2 cylinders via an air package company to your sailing destination.  They normally accept these devices, though you must declare them as a Hazardous Material/Dangerous Good.  Then when done sailing, return your CO2 cylinders via the air package company to your home.

  • Leave your CO2 cylinders at home, check ahead that local chandleries at your sailing destination carry your type of CO2 cartridge, buy replacements at your sailing destination, then dispose of them before returning home, then re-install your original CO2 cylinders at home.

  • If you attempt to carry the CO2 cylinders with you on a commercial aircraft, either as carry on, or checked baggage, without declaring the hazardous material, be prepared to face federal charges.

LET US KNOW YOUR EXPERIENCE

If you have comments or experiences with this matter, please send them to us (we share these stories with the U.S. Coast Guard to promote their involvement in asking the USDOT to change their Regulations):

* Your Name   
* Your E-Mail Address
* Your Birth Date mm/dd/yy
* Required (we need you to put any date in there, it is not required to put your birthdate.  We were nailed by spammers and the date stops the spam).

HOW CAN A PERMANENT SOLUTION BE MADE TO THIS PROBLEM?

Pretend for one moment that the wording in the USDOT (domestic) Regulations and the IATA (international) Regulations strengthens the wording that makes it permissible for airlines to accept these devices on board.

The outcome is that the individual airlines will always have the final decision to accept or deny hazardous materials on board their planes.  Why?  Think of the plane that carried the hazardous material called "oxygen generators" (hazardous material/dangerous good) in their cargo hold, that caught fire and crashed in the Florida Everglades.  All air carriers have the decision to accept the permitted hazardous materials, or not, which is a risk decision for their management alone.  After a long involved process of changing the regulations, the result will remain the same, the air carriers will always get to decide if the hazardous material will or will not board their planes.

 

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO CHANGE THE CURRENT WORDING, EVEN THOUGH THE BOTTOM LINE WOULD REMAIN THE SAME AS TODAY?

STEPS  
1. Write the United States Department of Transportation describing the loss of personal safety and possibly financial loss, by the USDOT and air carriers current policies.  This effort may change the Regulation for domestic air carriers only.
2. To change the Regulation for international air carriers, the first step is to have the USDOT carry the issue to the United Nations' "Subcommittee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods". What countries vote?
3. The U.N. only makes a recommendation and forwards it to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) who then debates the merit of a changed policy for international air carriers.  What countries vote?
4. The International Air Transportation Association (IATA), an airline trade association, takes ICAO's regulations, prints them in a tabbed and illustrated booklet and distributes them to all international air carriers.
5. If USDOT did not revise their Regulation in step one, they will revise their regulation at this point, incorporating ICAO language.
6. Air carriers still will have the ability to deny the carriage of hazardous materials.

NOTES
A cylinder manufacturer reports that the cylinders, used in other applications, are filled with gases such as Oxygen or Propane.  It is their recommendation that CO2 cylinders not be allowed in carry-on baggage, because training security personnel at airports to know and identify the differences would not be cost effective.  Accidentally or intentionally having Oxygen or Propane (both?) in the passenger compartment is too dangerous.
ISAF's International Regulations Committee reports that all European air carriers refuse CO2 cylinders either as check-through or carry-on baggage (9/17/01).
The United States Department of Transportation explains that the cylinders have a potential for rocketing if the pressure is released in an uncontrolled manner.  They may also have the potential of throwing fragments if they rupture in a situation such as a fire injuring crew, passengers and rescue personnel.  An inflatable PFD may also cause damage if inadvertently activated in a confined space (overhead bin), or harm a baggage handler (causing luggage to shift around). The fact that they may be required on an aircraft installed on the PFD's found under each seat under FAA airworthiness regulations (which requires inspection by the FAA in order to have them on board), does not mean that they should be considered as not hazardous when carried as cargo or passenger baggage (where your cylinders are not inspected by the FAA inspectors).  The USDOT cannot require an air carrier to allow hazardous materials on board as baggage or cargo, they can only allow a few hazardous materials to be permissible to carry at each airlines risk tolerance level.