Shipping human bodies

ScottM

ScottM

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iBazinga!
Has anyone had to ship human remains form one state to another?

My step-dad may come up here to Illinois to live with me. But he has said he really wants to be buried with my mom down in Florida when he dies. I am trying to figure out how much it costs to ship him back down there. We would probably have the funeral up here and then just do a simple graveside in Florida. I know how much the funeral, casket, and 'chemistry' would cost. What I don't know is the going shipping rate. I hear wild quotes that make me wonder if people are jsut pulling a figure out of the air.
 
If only I had my commercial license....
 
No shipping rates, but I used to werk for a charter outfit that had as a regular customer a mortuary. Used to make the arrangements with the funeral home at the destination, and just fly the body in a body bag on a stretcher. Get an aircraft big enough to take a couple of seats out and have at. That is all we did. Hope this helps.
 
Call Henning. He's done it himself!:yes: Listen to his Pilotcast episode!
 
I'm guessing cremation isn't an option.... You end up with about a 5 lb box.
 
smigaldi said:
Nope. He specially asked not not be cremated.
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Any funeral home can arrange for an out of state transfer. There is actually a company named National Mortuary Shipping that a funeral home I used to work at part-time used quite frequently. In fact, we jokingly referred to them as "Dead-Ex". However, if I were to recommend any company out there for such a task, it would be them hands down.
 
SteveinMichigan said:
Any funeral home can arrange for an out of state transfer. There is actually a company named National Mortuary Shipping that a funeral home I used to work at part-time used quite frequently. In fact, we jokingly referred to them as "Dead-Ex". However, if I were to recommend any company out there for such a task, it would be them hands down.
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Have a ballpark idea of costs?
 
Why not fly him yourself? Go to the airport at night and just prop him up in the right seat. :D

Be sure he's seated in the car on the way there- that way, when he starts to stiffen up, he'll be ready to sit in the seat of the plane. Very important. ;)


Kind of a long flight, though... better bring some air freshener. :)
 
Scott, this is done all the time. Call your local Funeral Director it is not really such a big deal.
 
smigaldi said:
Has anyone had to ship human remains form one state to another?

My step-dad may come up here to Illinois to live with me. But he has said he really wants to be buried with my mom down in Florida when he dies. I am trying to figure out how much it costs to ship him back down there. We would probably have the funeral up here and then just do a simple graveside in Florida. I know how much the funeral, casket, and 'chemistry' would cost. What I don't know is the going shipping rate. I hear wild quotes that make me wonder if people are jsut pulling a figure out of the air.
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Take dad for his last flight yourself. Body bag belted into the pax seat and off you go.... Cherokee six will take him casket and all.
 
rottydaddy said:
Why not fly him yourself? Go to the airport at night and just prop him up in the right seat. :D

Be sure he's seated in the car on the way there- that way, when he starts to stiffen up, he'll be ready to sit in the seat of the plane. Very important. ;)
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And make sure there are thunderstorms around you and it's night. And strap him in in the right seat. Just ask Henning, he's done it. :rofl:
 
AdamZ said:
Scott, this is done all the time. Call your local Funeral Director it is not really such a big deal.
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No, but it is expensive. I used to fly for a mortician who had a large Jewish clientelle and getting a Wednesday or later death across the country by the Sabbath typically required a small plane and a long day and/or night flying to get them there on time. Finally upgraded to a Cherokee 6-300 from a 172 after a particularly not fun flight gave me cause to say "No more bodies in the right seat." The upside for him was he got to sell the casket full commission as well. Death is big business, and there's nothing cheap about it. I always told my ex wife, if something happenned to me, give my body to a medical school, or just drag off what's left that couldn't be used to the back corner of the pasture and let the coyotes and mountain lion have me. I always though that the whole death business is a racket.
 
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Henning said:
No, but it is expensive. I used to fly for a mortician who had a large Jewish clientelle and getting a Wednesday or later death across the country by the Sabbath typically required a small plane and a long day and/or night flying to get them there on time. Finally upgraded to a Cherokee 6-300 from a 172 after a particularly not fun flight gave me cause to say "No more bodies in the right seat." The upside for him was he got to sell the casket full commission as well. Death is big business, and there's nothing cheap about it. I always told my ex wife, if something happenned to me, give my body to a medical school, or just drag off what's left that couldn't be used to the back corner of the pasture and let the coyotes and mountain lion have me. I always though that the whole death business is a racket.
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Me too, Henning.

I'm sure I've already told the story from some guy I knew who said that he had a corpse sit bolt upright on one of the dead body ferry flights....
 
Henning said:
I always told my ex wife, if something happenned to me, give my body to a medical school, or just drag off what's left that couldn't be used to the back corner of the pasture and let the coyotes and mountain lion have me. I always though that the whole death business is a racket.
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It is... it's an excellent racket. It's freakin' expensive to die these days.
I definitely want to end up in a drawer at a medical school... I want to be the picked-over cadaver they use to scare off the surgical wannabes who can't cut it. :D

More seriously (but not much), I'd be happy to know whatever organs are still useful to the living are put to good use; that's why I'm checked off as an organ donor on my DL.
May as well be useful in death, instead of taking up the best real estate in town (why do dead people need a nice view?). ;)
 
*Sigh* The Old Timers will remember a thread called "Air Dead Guy" on the red board. It was hysterical! They (and we) need an archive!

-Skip
 
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