How can I use a fountain pen while onboard an airplane? When a fountain pen is onboard an aircraft, it can leak ink due to the strong pressure difference inside the pen vs. outside the pen. This can result in messes to clean up on the flight even if the pen is not used, and at best ink blots when it is used.
Most of the advice I've been seeing about bringing fountain pens onto airplanes is that one should either completely fill them, or leave them completely empty before boarding the plane. However, this only works for storing the pen while in flight, and not for actually using the pen while in flight.
How can I effectively use a fountain pen while on an airplane? Is the only way to leave it empty and to fill it while onboard? I can think of a design for a pen that would allow it to be used on a plane effectively (store the ink in a bladder that changes size), but are there any pens that work like that?
There are things you can do to reduce the risks, as described in the other answers, but I would be wary of using any kind of pen containing liquid ink on a plane (although a &quot;felt or fiber tipped&quot; pen may be OK; never investigated that).  I've had a Pilot Precise technical-style pen that uses disposable refills (the entire guts of the pen), leak while sealed in the tip-up position.
If you need to write on a plane, pens with gel ink (which also includes most ballpoint pens), are much less likely to leak.  The best type would be a Fisher &quot;Space Pen&quot; (various other pens can also use those refills).  These are manufactured pressurized and are designed to use that pressure to feed a very thick ink without leaking (they can write in the vacuum of space without leaking).  If writing with a fountain pen is important, I would just wait until you land to do it.