Well, I'm making my way from stupid questions to more intelligent questions <g>.
I've traveled with a lot of 35mm equipment and film, and in fact I bought a came ra bag that lets me take the film pouch easilly for airport hand inspection. I'm getting ready for a trip with the 4x5, and some questions about how aiport secu rity will handle film inspection have occured to me.
I know that the FAA gives me the right to request hand inspection of film. So fa r, so good. Inspecting a 35mm cassette is fiarly straightforward: looks like fil m, weighs about what film should weigh, and you're on your way. What about a box of 4x5, though? Essentially it can't really be inspected, except by competent p ersonnel in a completely dark darkroom. So what happens when I hand them 5 or so boxes of LF film and tell them that they can't be opened? Do they arrest me on the spot? I've had airport security take my 35mm film pouch and put it on the co nveyer to the scanner, from which I've had to rescue it, and then tell me that I 'm be arrested unless it went through (I explained to them that they were wrong, and that if I was unlawfully arrested they'd be working for me for the rest of their lives).
I've contacted the airline, the airport, and the FAA about this. The FAA has dir ected me to the airline and the airport. The airline and the airport have both t old me "get there early" which to me really doesn't address the basic issue that the film cannot be inspected in any menaingful way.
Any ideas? Any experience?
Thanks David Gardner
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