Airport problems

My wife and I always carry our camera and underwater housing in hand luggage and have never had any issues at airports.

This summer, we did get stopped after the x-ray operator saw electronic items and batteries inside a metal tube. It turned out to be our Ikelite strobe for the underwater camera. Once we opened the bag and showed it to them, they were fine with it.

You'll have no problems putting it into hand luggage. Anything valuable or fragile (that isn't expressly prohibited) should always go into hand luggage if it will fit, IMHO. I'm sure you've see the way they throw and stack checked in luggage.