Electronic practice highland chanter mistaken for a bomb at airport:
http://www.pressherald.com/news/local/040114jetport.shtml
As if it wasn’t hard enough to travel with the pipes already…
it was about 6 months before 9/11, but i flew to europe with a half set, 3 whistles and an electonic tuner in 4" pvc pipe as carryon in my back pack, with bag and bellows seperate, and nothing was ever said (to my surprise) by the x-rayers.
the eyelets on my hiking boots got’em all excited though, alarms and buzzers going off every time.
i avoid flying like the plague now, just isn’t a viable way to travel anymore.
best, tansy
I haven’t had such good luck. I ran into a young TSA X-Ray tech in Seattle who didn’t have a clue about pipes and tore right into my case.
I specifically told him “its a delicate and expensive instrument, so please be careful”. When he was done he said “it looked strange on the X-Ray” and I said to him, “Great, now you’ll know what one looks like in the future”, and his incredibly response, in a nasty tone was “We’ll have none of that, if you come through here 100 times, I’d open it up every time.”
Glad to know that those who are responsible for protecting us are so willing to learn from experience… :roll:
In Dublin on my way to Willie Week, the X-Ray tech said “Uilleann pipes, right?”… 
M
A few years ago going through Dublin Airport the checker said… “who do you think you are Davy Spillane?”. Then she proceeded to tell me that she said that to a guy the week earlier and it was Davy Spillane! Where did she think he’d fly from? 
PD.
Book him, Danno. Tartan 1. 
Apparently the same thing happened to Sir Stirling Moss when he got pulled over for speeding in the early 60s. The policeman asked him if he thought he was Stirling Moss and you can guess the answer. Even if its an urban legend its still kinda cute.
This is funny! I’ve taken pipes and whistles to Florida, then Japan and back, but only had problems at my home town Detroit Metro Airport. The bright ones in X-ray thought I was running guns. I can see the headline: “Skinny young man international weapons dealer.”
Marc
Ah, yes, the bright lads and lasses of Detroit Metro Airport security and screening. They’re the #1 reason I drive home.
Still it’s possible to make too much of the security thing. They’re supposed to let you on if what you’re carrying is a musical instrument.
But get to the airport early and be polite. “Sir” and “ma’am” go a long way. If it helps your anxieties, get a hard-sided compact box for your pipes like D’Arcy’s. It fits in most airline carryon templates (22x14x9). He completely disassembles an entire Wooff B and gets the whole thing in that space, using foam pipe wrap to protect the timber from scratches. I’m thinking of getting one of those myself.
Pat, where did you get that thing again?
Liam O Flynn was flying into England at a time of high I.R.A. activity and he was stopped with his large pipes case. ‘What’s in there. a bomb?!’ shouted an oh so sutble security bloke. Liam’s companion answered him, ‘No, worse!’
Hiya Pat,
Sorry I missed you over the holidays. Had a great day with Jim McGuire though (Hi Jim) so my piping thirst was quenched 
I got my case in Ireland from a company called Advance Handling 2000 Limited http://www.advancehandling2000.com/
Tell them I sent you, they are friends of my Dad’s (Pat). I don’t know if they are expensive or what but I would imagine they are a bit steep.
Good luck.
Patrick.
Check this out from yesterday.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/01/14/airport.evacuatio.ap/index.html
I wonder what would have happened if it would have been pipes instead. 
We’ve been talking about this potential problem in GHB circles for several years, the PVC plumbing cases for pipes or practice chanters etc. Even before 9/11 (In Europe it would be 11/9) we wondered often if the exact appearance of a pipe bomb was the best sort of case to be travelling with.
Royce
I’m just back from a week in Spain and I brought a half-set broken down into a hard camera case, just under the size limit for hand baggage, on the way out at Dublin Airport, the x-ray operator said ’ can you not afford the regulators?’ - on the way back, at Malaga Airport, the x-ray operator got very excited, called over the man with the gun on his hip who asked me to open the case - four security people gathered around, all very puzzled, looked at everything, smiled, shrugged their shoulders and said ‘off you go’ - at least I think that’s what it was.
For future reference ‘es un sistema de gaitas’ should cover it.
Since the word ‘gaita’ encompasses all forms of bagpipes, I wonder if Gaita Irlandesa (Irish bagpipe) being more specific is actually correct.
Strange that a language (Spanish) that has about seven different words to describe hair, can be so non-specific sometimes… They only translate ‘fingers and toes’ to ‘digits of the hand’ and digits of the foot’.
Emer, prior to this trip, what size case were you packing your pipes in… and did they allow you to carry them on board?
An Associated Press article on this incident in Portland, Maine referred to the instrument as “an electronic flute”.