Flying abroad with a pony bottle

[surfpange]

How have you guys dealt with flying with a redundant air supply like a pony bottle? TSA regulations state that a scuba cylinder can be carried on or checked but the valve has to be removed. Does this present a problem for getting an air fill at a tropical dive center?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Doc Harry]

There shouldn't be any problem getting your pony filled at your destination.

Be sure to screw in the plastic plug that came with the tank to keep junk out of your cylinder.

Proper fill station protocol requires a visual inspection of a cylinder if it is completely empty. But I doubt that overseas fill stations follow "proper" protocol. You should probably insist on having your tank inspected anyway before the valve is put back on to make sure that you're not sealing a fly or a roach in your cylinder.

Just DO NOT tell TSA inspectors that you valveless pony bottle has 14.7 PSI of air inside!

 

[budgy]

It all depends on where your going!
The only cylinders we can legally fill in the UK have a British or European standard mark. Cylinders without a test standard stamp thats officially recognised by our health + safety executive are beyond the certification scope of our cylinder testing stations.

 

[ClayJar]

If abroad means standard American vacation destinations, no problemo. As for visual inspections, as long as it's within hydro and viz, I for one wouldn't begrudge you an air fill. You just take a look inside to be sure there are no spiderwebs or sand castles, then screw the valve on and fill. I'll trust the previous inspector's examination of the state of the cylinder (just as I would filling any cylinder), so all I'm really doing is a quick check for contaminants.

(Of course, if somewhere wants to be a stickler, I'll give it the full workup and slap a new sticker on it, but I'm not going to do a new eddy current test -- I leave that expensive instrumentation safely at home. :biggrin

Obviously, if it were for oxygen service (including partial pressure blending of nitrox, et cetera), that's another story, but that wouldn't apply to a pony bottle.

 

[Darnold9999]

I was told not to put the plastic plug in the tank - inspectors may not remove it and can reject your luggage. I put mine in a clear plastic bag to prevent luggage lint from getting inside and have had no problems getting it filled.