can I fly a bottle of wine home?

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

May the force be with you
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
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First Officer 6PC
Near sea level departure. Flying 9500 tomorrow. Should I just leave it behind?
not a nice bottle by a long shot but hate too waste it.
 
I'd probably fly an airplane home if I were you, but if you can get it to somehow generate enough lift, I guess you can fly a bottle of wine home.

Don't know the real answer, but I think most airline cabins are pressurized to 8000MSL and I know wine is OK there. Actually, I think my wife may have even packed a bottle in checked baggage before (but I can't remember for certain). My guess? You'll be fine. But report back and let the rest of us know!
 
My wife & I happen to be in the wine business. You won't have any problems but don't open it at altitude. :eek:
 
I'm pretty sure they drink Napa wine in the Rockies without the corks blowing out of the bottle.
 
My wife was once on a regional jet flight, on which a fellow passenger brought aboard some wine packed in a bag which was stowed in the overhead bin. It was probably just poor packing rather than a pressurization issue, but after the turbulent flight there was a big red river flowing down the sidewall from the overhead bin. What a mess.

:oops:
 
Wait... are you concerned about pressure, or are you concerned about bootlegging?
 
I regularly fly with a case or more of wine in the plane. It's not a problem to you or the wine as long as you aren't drinking it.
We usually bring a case to Oshkosh with us, but I may need more as the some of the Snowbirds threaten to come down and drink with us.
 
JCranford said:
He's probably concerned about the screw-top coming loose. :D
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It is also possible that 6PC is simply calling boxed wine, a bottle to make it seem more upscale. :) Pilot's are supposed to be cheap after all. Boxed wine is probably cheaper than bottled.

IS this AOPA Wine Club wine 6PC?
 
My greater concern is that Bryola bought wine on a trip to San Antonio.

I love Sweet Mother Texas, but have never yet found a Texas wine I could call, "good."

Expensive, yes.

What'd you do, Bryan?
 
like what was said....please don't fly the bottle. :D

I doubt +3-4 psi at altitude will hurt a bottle of whine.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Let's up the ante.

Champagne.
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Check the safety wire first. Actually no problem. I claimed (climbed, couldn't resist letting spell checker do its thing) Mt. Whitney years ago. At the top, a group of hikers arrive and one of them pulls a bottle of champagne out of his backpack. He still had to push the stopper up with his thumbs. I guess maybe it was more of a pop and more foamy, but not that much.
 
Long story, but I flew a large amount of bottled wine across the country (like coast to coast) in a unpressurized plane, don't worry about it, you'll be fine.
 
Meh - just open the bottle while flying and let the Mrs bring a cheese tray along. Have a party on the flight back. What do you care? You have a parachute.
 
You can bring wine home, but people will make fun of you for it. Fly home with beer or a fine single malt whisky (the more peat the better) and you'll be revered as an intrepid adventurer.
 
Careful...overloading with wine can dramatically change your center of gravity.


...and screw up the plane's W&B too.
 
flyingron said:
I regularly fly with a case or more of wine in the plane. It's not a problem to you or the wine as long as you aren't drinking it.
We usually bring a case to Oshkosh with us, but I may need more as the some of the Snowbirds threaten to come down and drink with us.
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I like your style....
 
Matthew said:
Meh - just open the bottle while flying and let the Mrs bring a cheese tray along. Have a party on the flight back. What do you care? You have a parachute.
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The flight school where I did my PPL at KAPC also does charter tours. Their claim to fame is "you can do a wine and cheese tour of the Napa Valley and you don't even need to share with the pilot."
 
Shouldn't be an issue. I brought a case of beer back from Denver not that long ago.. granted it isn't corked, but it still wasn't an issue. We did blow a couple bags of chips blow at 17.5 last year but not at 13.5 a few weeks ago.
 
I had a bag of Doritos blow on me at 15,500. Through the headsets I heard the POP!! And then Doritos all over me......

Never had a box of wine blow up on me though......
 
Sac Arrow said:
The flight school where I did my PPL at KAPC also does charter tours. Their claim to fame is "you can do a wine and cheese tour of the Napa Valley and you don't even need to share with the pilot."
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Maybe we should tell 6PC about the "honeymoon flights"? He has an autopilot, and he can put the kids under the hood.
 
We have carried bottles of wine in unpressurized baggage up to 40,000' with no ill effect.
 
SCCutler said:
My greater concern is that Bryola bought wine on a trip to San Antonio.

I love Sweet Mother Texas, but have never yet found a Texas wine I could call, "good."

Expensive, yes.

What'd you do, Bryan?
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Well, I can say I've had some wine from the Becker vineyard to be quite good. Not so much for most of the rest. For reference, Becker is located pretty much directly next to the Stonewall VOR.
 
Matthew said:
Maybe we should tell 6PC about the "honeymoon flights"? He has an autopilot, and he can put the kids under the hood.
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You mean the tube compartment? If there's one thing I learned from his preflight videos, it's that there should be tubes in there. Not kids.
 
ircphoenix said:
You mean the tube compartment? If there's one thing I learned from his preflight videos, it's that there should be tubes in there. Not kids.
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No, "under the hood" = "view limiting device". There's no room in the tube compartment, unless during his post-pre-flight inspection he finds out they weren't there after all.
 
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