[Yak] CO2 cartridges

[charles voigtsberger]

As reported on this list and other bike lists, CO2
cartridges are a proscribed item both in carry-on and
checked luggage. While on its face the proscription
makes no sense as the inflating source in the Personal
Flotation Devices that the airlines use is a set of
CO2 cartridges, I suppose the rationale behind the
rule is that the airlines cannot inspect every CO2
cartridge that customers bring on board the aircraft
to insure that it is still in a safe condition. I used
CO2 cartridges in my PFD while I scuba dived which
took them to much greater pressure and subjected them
to greater corrosion than a cartridge would experience
in normal use such as stored in an under seat bike
bag. Most of the divers I knew who used PFD's also
used CO2 cartridges and I never heard of anyone having
either the experience of one exploding or leaking.
According to some reading I have done about air rifles
and the early days of CO2 cartridges, apparently early
on -- late 19th century -- there was difficulty with
leakage, but since about the late 40's or early 50's
with a new process, CO2 cartridges are one of our more
reliable products, right up there with paper clips and
straight pins. Of course, government change is
glacial. Consider that the federal government is still
using odd sized paper, a move that was instituted
during WW2 to save paper. It now costs the government
more money to buy the specially sized paper and the
filing cabinets etc that go with it, but the dodos in
Washington continue to plod down that same path
because they have been doing it that way for 65 years!
If you want to check the actual regulation, you can do
it on line under FAA regs at some government dotgov
website but I don't have the exact URL. You can
probably Google it.
Chuck Voigtsberger
Ventura CA