The Pelican 1510 is FAA approved and such but has anyone actually had any problems with bringing it on as a carry-on? I believe some airlines have trimmed down their carry-on policy. Any issues with it fitting in the overhead compartment once on the plane?

It should fit most domestic flights in the US, but be wary of some international flights with small aircrafts. Still, I would trust the 1510 to be able to withstand a check-in.

A Pelican 1510 or 1514 (with dividers) will have a much higher weight than most airlines have as their carry-on limit, when it's full with camera equipment. Most airlines will allow it as a carry-on even with high weight. But you never know for sure until you actually fly with it

it all depends on the airline, the aircraft you are flying on, where you are going and when you get on.
you go to some destinations and all the pax bring carryons that are at the size limit a 777 overhead (which is quite large) can reach its limit early. people are fairly less caring on how they put their stuff in and there is a limited time for boarding. the flt crew has priorities to get people seated for departure so there you can have an issue with space and someone's gonna lose. I see it everyday on particular flights.

With a lot of domestic airlines people are only bringing carry on's instead of paying for bag checking fee's..... Overhead bins fill up quickly.

If you board at the beginning shouldn't be an issue, if you are at the end all bets are off.

On flights that are space limited, you can be asked to "gate check" your bag. The good news is that the Pelican 1510 is about as good as it gets with regard to protecting your gear. If you're not too packed with gear, the ThinkTank Ultralight backpack fits snugly inside the Pelican 1510.

I did a lot of forum scouring for the same thing, but couldn't find a conclusive answer, so here's my experience- a domestic Southwest flight overhead bin very comfortably swallowed my 1514 with maybe 3-4" of space left depth-wise.

Last year at the check-in counter for an international flight I was advised that they (he) would weigh the Pelican at the gate. If it was over the limit it would be put in with checked baggage. I spread the gear between our two carry-ons and jacket pockets and just made it. I will not take a Pelican as a carry-on again because the airlines are well aware of how much weight may be packed inside. The issue for them is that a very heavy bag in the over head storage becomes a danger in turbulence.

not quite. many smaller items will move more rapidly in an aircraft in turbulence. nice lightweight laptops and other multimedia devices can do a lot of damage. if an overhead is closed properly w/o a sleeve or whatever not mucking up the lock mechanism and the hatch closure hasn't been "manhandled" to persuade it to close do to overstuffing it is real unlikely of it to open. unfortunately due to the variables called passengers and crews it can't be guaranteed.

On a recent international flight, the check-in counter staff asked to weigh my Pelican 1510 case because they knew for a fact that the case itself was close to the weight limit for carry-on bags, and fully loaded it would be well over. True enough, it was almost twice the weight limit and I was asked to check it or repack the gear.

I stuffed my gear into another bag and took the empty Pelican as my carry-on bag. After clearing TSA checkpoint I refilled the Pelican Did not fall out of the overhead bin.

Sold off the 1510 and switched to a backpack for transporting my gear and a dry cabinet for storage (now that I'm residing in the tropics)