At a USA airport try this

I did that recently and survived with no drama.

 

I take mine with me every time I travel with camera gear. Nothing I love more then spending thousands of dollars on a vacation, bringing thousands of dollars in camera gear, and then having to clone out dust spots on every single one of my photos taken because I didn't have a $10 blower to clean off the sensor.

 

Now try leaving a propane cylinder in your JetBoil camping stove in your backpack. The TSA was none too happy with me.
When all was said and done they did say it was good training for them.

 

Have traveled quite frequently over the last several years, both internationally and domestically, out of Atlanta and have never had a issue. It’s always in my carryon camera bag, not once has my camera bag been pulled by security to check. Includes trips to and from Midwest, Northeast, Paris, Amsterdam, and number of the Caribbean Islands.

 

The only time I have issues is at smaller airports where the customs or TSA have nothing better to do. Bigger international airports with far more traffic have been more professional and know what to look for, so they don't bother with non-issues like an air blower.

 

I always take my rocket blower in my camera bag. Despite that the bag has been hand inspected numerous times, nobody has ever suggested that the blower might be a problem.

I do like to recount the time the dog that sniffs around for drugs jumped onto my wife's suitcase and stayed there. The agent asked my wife a few questions while we stood in line and then moved on with the dog. The dog was very cute!

 

One of the oddest experiences I had with TSA was in Prudhoe Bay. I'd flown my own plane in, went in through the doors, and then TSA told me that I couldn't go back on to the ramp to my plane. I went outside and the fence ended just past the terminal, so I walked out, got into my plane and with tower's permission I took off.

 

Years ago the daughter of a good friend had been snow skiing where they had set off explosives to minimize the danger of unwanted avalanches. The explosives materials were detected in her ski boots at the airport, so she was put on a list to always be examined. I don't know if she is still on the list.

Explosives residue was detected in my wife's back pack at the airport even though it wasn't detected in mine. The agent asked if we had been in an area where explosions were taking place and we had. All was well, though my wife's bags ever since have been manually inspected much more often than mine. Perhaps she was also put on a list.

 

I used to shoot competitively, and on flights in the US I'd sometimes work on brass, swaging out primer pockets and removing burrs in flash holes. I was shooting a 6mm PPC rifle at the time and finding brass was very difficult, so I'd scour local shops where I was looking for it. Never had a major hassle getting the small tool and the brass through security, I'd always take the brass out so they could inspect it. On a flight once I had the captain come back and ask me what I was doing - a passenger had reported I was making ammunition. I'm sure they thought when I was done I'd take out my combo mini milling machine/lathe and make a rifle. I showed him what I was doing, he had no problem with it and they moved me and my little brass factory up to first class, where I wouldn't bother people, there were only a couple of people there. Got seated and put my stuff away and took advantage of their free wine and better food. I don't think I'd do this today.

 

I had the random explosive test done one time. I was flagged. After a thorough check (including swabbing my hands, inspecting my laptop etc), they finally asked if I had been around fertilizer. I realized the shoes I was wearing were last used to fertilize my lawn.

 

On my recent trip to Belgium, I had my camera swabbed twice: once at Lewiston, ID (where the TSA are very, very bored--and thorough!) and Amsterdam.

 

I accidentally left a rather large folding knife in my carry on last time I flew. I had completely forgotten it was in my bag, which I was using as my camera bag. I was a bit annoyed when I saw they had pulled my bag off the conveyor and it was being hand inspected. My annoyance soon turned to embarrassment when the inspector pulled the knife from my bag. He was actually nice and polite about it though, explaining my options. It was a cheap knife and I told him he was welcome to it and took my bag and continued on.

 

I was flying from the island of Malta to Frankfurt and when I got to security I realized I had my Spyderco knife in my carry-on backpack instead of in the checked luggage. I apologized and the Maltese security guy shrugged and said "Apologize for what? It's not a bomb." They're a little more laid back than we are and I envy them for that.

Sean