The camera should always be on board with you. My heart cannot take seeing my camera going into cargo. When you see how some airline staff treat your luggage it is amazing that anything comes out the other end in one piece. And let’s face it, the camera is our livelihood and our baby, it deserves to be on board with us.

The camera should always have a fresh battery and an empty tape in it. Why? Well, the plane could be hijacked (I am not suggesting that you start rolling if that does happen, that's your judgment) or God forbid it could crash. I personally would rather experience none of these events; I can live without getting THAT shot. But if something does happen, being ready to get those pictures would be the best way to go. However, carrying the camera on board is not that comfortable and could also be a danger to you or other passengers.

I flew to Cairo a few months ago with El Al on a new Boeing 767-800 and in the business class they had just the right place for my baby. You could raise the table between the seats and the camera fitted like a glove. There was even a seat belt for it. Enough room for my producer, my camera and me. It was fantastic.

But let's face it, this does not happen very often. So what do you do? First step is to ask that lovely person at the check-in counter if you could have an empty seat next to you. And tell them why; show them the camera and how big it is. That works most of the time but it could backfire. In Antalya, Turkey, the "lovely" girl at the Turkish Airlines check-in counter, refused to let me on the plane with the camera, stating that it was larger than what the IATA regulations for hand luggage allowed. She suggested I put it in cargo, yea right! I told her I would if Turkish Airlines gave me a piece of paper stating that they would give me $60,000 if the camera were damaged! Yea right. I then demanded to see the manager - by now I was looking really pissed off - and that's when the "lovely" girl said "all right" in a tone suggesting that she was doing me a big favour. I would hate to imagine what would have happened had I been flying economy!

But we do on many occasions fly economy or, even worse, we fly in small aircraft. Again, first thing is to ask for an empty seat next to you. Also ask to be seated at the emergency exit (there is usually more legroom there). If you do get an empty seat next to you then you're doing fine. Strap the camera in with the seat belt, because if you hit an air hole or if any other problem occurs you will have 10kg of metal flying around. You could kill somebody and I am not exaggerating! If you do not get a seat, either because the flight is full or the check-in counter person did not fancy you, then you are in for an uncomfortable trip. I usually remove the radio mike off the back, remove all rear cables and stand the camera on its rear between my feet. Cushion it with your jacket or some airline pillows or blankets. I find this quite dangerous, since if you do hit an air pocket the camera may fly upwards. It also causes a smaller problem, that of not being able to open your table in order to eat. But you do get some good moments: while flying on a full Alitalia flight to Rome I sat next to two lovely young Italian girls who insisted on hand feeding me. This kind of luck, though, is not guaranteed so plan ahead and have a pleasant flight.