Today’s post comes to you from an altitude of 32,900 feet at speeds of 500+ mph. It isn’t often that I fly but, when I do, I always feel very comfortable taking my Pelikans along. I understand that this can be a topic of concern for fountain pen aficionados as stories of in-flight inky disasters abound. I thought that a post about flying with a Pelikan (as well as just about any other piston filled fountain pen) would be timely. The good news is that air travel with fountain pens can essentially be worry free if you adhere to a few general principles.
To start the discussion, let us examine the underlying issue; cabin pressurization. In the early days of commercial flight when fountain pens were in their heyday, airplane cabins were not pressurized. Passengers were required to wear oxygen which was in short supply at the ever increasing cruising altitudes made possible by improved engine technology. In 1940, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner was the first commercial aircraft to offer a pressurized cabin with a cruising altitude of 20,000 feet. This innovation has long since been the standard on all commercial aircraft. Cabin pressure is regulated by an outflow valve which is wide open when the plane is on the ground (cabin pressure = atmospheric pressure). Prior to take off, the pilot sets a cruising altitude on a pressure controller. Once the airplane’s wheels are off of the runway, the outflow valve begins to close, thereby pressurizing the cabin. As the plane climbs to cruising altitude, the cabin pressure decreases and ultimately becomes equivalent to what might be present at 7,000 feet above sea level (cabin pressure < atmospheric pressure). The rate of pressurization is gradual and usually occurs over 20-30 minutes. While the airliner may be climbing thousands of feet per minute, the passenger experience is actually much milder with a pressure change equivalent to a climb rate of only 350 feet per minute. As the plane descends, this process reverses and the cabin pressure increases until it equilibrates with the atmospheric pressure of your destination.
Air travel prior to 1940. Note the requirement for supplemental oxygen during flight in an unpressurized cabin.
It is the change in pressure outlined above that can be problematic for fountain pens. Seventeenth century chemist and physicist Robert Boyle teaches us that pressure and volume are inversely proportional at a constant temperature (illustrated in the graph to the right). As a plane ascends and pressure decreases, volume increases at a similar rate. Any closed container, such as a pen’s ink reservoir, will undergo an expansion of the air trapped within. If a pen is pointed nib down, the air will rise to the piston seal and the ink will settle against the feed. As the volume of air expands, the ink will be pushed out of the feed/nib resulting in an inky mess. The table below illustrates Boyle’s law and the magnitude of gas expansion one could expect at various altitudes.
| Altitude | Magnitude of Gas Expansion |
|---|---|
| Sea Level | 1.0x |
| 18,000 feet | 2.2x |
| 25,000 feet | 3.0x |
| 34,000 feet | 5x |
| 43,000 feet | 9.5x |
Application of Boyle’s Law illustrating that a trapped gas increases in volume as pressure decreases (assuming temperature remains constant)
With the problem now well delineated, we can look at how to mitigate any issues that might arise. Since trapped air is the enemy, you would be best served by having the ink reservoir empty and cleaned negating the entire issue. For many of us, that is neither practical nor convenient. The alternative, which may not seem intuitive, is to keep the ink reservoir as full as possible thereby leaving very little residual air and minimizing gas expansion. Should you find yourself ready for take off but with only a half full pen, you could take advantage of Pelikan’s ink view window and move the piston forward until all of the visible air is expelled from the ink chamber. While helpful, this is not usually necessary with today’s pens provided that you keep it stowed with the nib in an upwards orientation. With the nib up during ascension to cruising altitude the expanding air is harmlessly expelled to the atmosphere. If all else fails, there is some leeway as most modern feeds are capable of absorbing some degree of excess ink provided that you aren’t flying with a half full pen in the nib down position (worse case scenario). Descent is not nearly as problematic because cabin pressure is rising resulting in air wanting to be forced into the reservoir rather than out.
Pelikan M805 Demonstrator. Left: Arrow depicts the direction of escaping air with expansion at lower pressures. No significant amount of ink leakage should occur with the nib pointing up. Right: When the nib is pointed down, expansion of the trapped air will force the ink ahead of it out of the reservoir and into the feed resulting in leakage.
If the pen is on its side, the expansion of trapped air has the potential to cause the nib to leak ink.
While the above concepts are applicable across brands and filling systems, I can only attest to the general ease with which Pelikans fly. In this post, I have focused on internal piston fillers but cartridges and converters will also be affected in a similar manner. I do believe that extra care should be taken when flying with vintage fountain pens (produced prior to 1970) as they are more of a mixed bag in general though this certainly should not dissuade you.
Other considerations when flying are issues surrounding the regulations dictated by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Fountain pens are not prohibited and are able to be brought aboard aircraft without issue. Most people have not encountered any difficulties but it’s important to note that at the point of inspection, the TSA does have the final say regardless of posted prohibitions. I’ll leave you with a few final thoughts on traveling with ink as it goes hand in hand with fountain pens. Boyle’s law also holds true here but since you open a bottle of ink from the top and gravity keeps the liquid ink at the bottom of the container, it is a non-issue. As far as the volume of ink goes, you are allowed up to 100 ml of a non-flammable liquid to be carried on board in your carry-on bag according to the TSA. Anything more than 100 ml is mandated to go into a checked bag or be forfeit. You can see more about prohibited items at the TSA’s website.
Flying with a fountain pen do’s and don’ts
DO:
- Have the reservoir/converter/cartridge either full OR empty
- Keep the nib pointed upwards upon take-off and until cruising altitude is achieved whenever possible
- Feel free to use your pen once at cruising altitude
DON’T:
- Fly with a pen that is half filled or less with the nib in a downward facing direction
- Use the fountain pen during ascent or descent
- Be afraid to travel with fountain pens
Thanks for this detailed post. I’ve flown countless times with my Pelikan in my shirt pocket, pointing upwards. It was usually half filled and I haven’t had problems.
You’re welcome. Sounds like you set yourself up for success with the nib up orientation.
Nice post. I have flown with a Metropolitan many times and have had no issues at all. I hope you don’t mind a little self-pimping of a post I wrote about flying with the Metropolitan. https://pensandplanes.com/2016/03/21/flying-with-fountain-pens-pt-ii/
I don’t mind at all. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Very interesting & helpful information. Timely for my upcoming travel – 15 hours flight from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. When I travel overseas, I always have my passport/ID, money and a FP with me in a pouch kept close to my body. Previously, I had flew with my Tortoise M400 many times. I have to admit I never give much thought that ink might leak. It is a bit careless comes to think of it. Luckily my Pelikan never fails me. I must have happened to keep the pen in the correct upright position. Thanks for the advise. As always, enjoy reading your posts.
^ Also thanks very much Jimmy for the link to your article. Appreciate very much the cross-referencing of useful information with the same subject matter.
Glad to hear it. Have a safe trip!
I recently flew from Seattle to the SF Show with 7 inked fountain pens (2 were Pelikans: an M205 and an M101N). I carefully put the pens in my backpack so that they were standing nib up when the backpack was upright. BUT — (duh) — my backpack lies down during flight, under the seat in front of me, and this critical fact never occurred to me until I read this blog entry.
What happened, you ask?
Well …
My two Sailors (a Young Profit and a Pro Gear Slim) leaked a good bit, and the Pilot Prera a little bit.
But …
My two Pelikans didn’t leak at all! Nor did my 2 Kaweco Skyline Sports, nor did the Pilot Custom 74 demonstrator.
So …
Sideways might work out okay, but don’t count on it!
Ugh! Sorry to hear of you inky woes. Hope it wasn’t too much of a mess. Thank you for sharing your experience. I do believe that Pelikans tolerate a sideways orientation better than some others but, like you said, don’t count on it.
Oops, make that 8 fountain pens total! :-}
FWIW, the fills on those pens were:
Pelikan M101N: nearly full
Pelikan M205: about half-full
Sailor Pro Gear Slim: less than half-full (~ 1/3 full there, ~ 1/5 full back, emptied during return flight)
Sailor Young Profit: more than half-full there, less than half-full back
Kaweco Skyline Sport w/Pelikan 4001 Turquoise cart: less than half-full
Kaweco Skyline Sport w/Waterman Tender Purple cart: more than half-full
Pilot Prera: more than half-full
Pilot Custom 74: less than half-full (~1/5 full) there, nearly full on return flight)
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Thanks for this informative post and the technical explanation. Deciding which pens to bring is one of the joys of travel. This puts a good case for the Pelikans. Another joy is seeking out a pen shop at your destination (google place name plus “pen shop”)! Happy travelling.
Glad that you enjoyed the post. Sadly, I often find a Google search to return very little or, even worse, the names of shops long since closed. Perhaps you may have better luck in your travels.
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I have flown several times with my TWSBI vac mini, which by design is supposed to avoid the air expansion problem so long as the piston is screwed tight to seal off the reservoir. That said, I also put the pen inside a small plastic Nalgene bottle with the bottle cap screwed on tight. I figured the bottle, if UNOPENED in flight, would preserve the ground level air pressure inside as it has minimal shape distortion in flight. Even though I haven’t had any pen leakage, whether because it is a vacuum fill or inside a sealed bottle, I am pretty sure this approach would work for any piston filled or cartridge fountain pen. Just give up using it in flight, leave it in the pressurized bottle, and use it at your destination (assuming it is not Cusco, Peru at 11,000′! ).
A little extra precaution never hurts. Probably a bit of overkill but whatever gives you peace of mind. I tend to use a Ziplock bag myself. Piston fillers fly very well in my experience. I have used TWSBIs in the past but not their vac fillers.
After 30+ years with fountain pens and low-millions air miles, I’ve decided FPs are not worth the trouble for trips of a week or less. In fact, I don’t even travel with regular ballpoints and rollerballs because they, too, leak…favoring VisionElite “airplane safe” pens and various mechanical pencils instead. (In fact, this website is enabling interest in some obscure Pelikan pencils.)
Two anecdotes:
Once, traveling with an M800 on a red-eye, I awoke from a dream thinking I’d been shot with a moistness on my ribcage. Instead, it was just the pen’s *ludicrously capacious* reservoir emptying itself in my vest pocket. …The Bourne movie they’d shown after takeoff likely contributed to the gunshot association.
As a result of the air pressure, an M800 developed a micro-leak where the translucent binde meets the black section. Hypothesis is that the airplane air pressure forced a tiny opening. It wasn’t even visible with a loupe, but it does highlight that Pelikan’s are luxury goods, not industrial tools. Chartpak obliged with a replacement.
These 2 events led to my no-fountain-pen-on-travel decision. Subsequently: No gunshot nightmares. No leaks. And, I can look forward to my pens when I get home.
Seems like you have had enough real world experience to make a fair judgement. I appreciate you sharing your anecdotes and perspectives. Very helpful. Never fun to have a pen spill its guts in your pocket. If I fly with pens, I have taken to doing so empty, bringing a bottle of ink along. I fill the pens once I arrive at my destination and empty them prior to my return flight. Just saves some aggravation in my experience.
Concur. For a week or more, it’s worth traveling with the bottled ink. Or, someone needs to create a pen concierge service where your pens show up at the destination ready to write.
*Pelikans are [no apostrophe]