Laser beam at 8500 feet?

[Isgrimnur]

How about you look at what the actual view is when one hits a cockpit windscreen?

[Daehawk]

Wow that surprises me. I guess it is more of a danger than I imagined. Stuff like this will get these taken away from the public..asshats.

[Isgrimnur]

Thank you for taking the time to watch it and re-evaluate your position. I appreciate it.

[Isgrimnur]

19yo man from Hollywood gets 2.5 years, or more than stealing a bag of meatballs could possibly get.

A 19-year-old North Hollywood man has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for aiming a laser pointer at a commercial aircraft — a steep punishment going well beyond the year federal prosecutors were seeking.
...
The defendant was indicted on two counts of pointing a laser and pleaded guilty to one charge. He was accused of aiming the laser pointer at a NetJet Cessna Citation as it was landing at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank last year. The green beam hit the pilot in the eye, temporarily blinding him. A Pasadena police helicopter investigating the incident was shot by the beam, too, but the pilot’s vision was not affected.

Defense attorneys, who did not respond for comment, were seeking two years of probation and community service.

The maximum penalty was five years for each charge.

[Unagi]

Seems like a major military weakness, right? NK arms everyone with green lasers, etc, etc.

[Isgrimnur]

Well, most of them are illegally strong, so they're already law enforcement issues.

[Octavious]

19yo man from Hollywood gets 2.5 years, or more than stealing a bag of meatballs could possibly get.

A 19-year-old North Hollywood man has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for aiming a laser pointer at a commercial aircraft — a steep punishment going well beyond the year federal prosecutors were seeking.
...
The defendant was indicted on two counts of pointing a laser and pleaded guilty to one charge. He was accused of aiming the laser pointer at a NetJet Cessna Citation as it was landing at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank last year. The green beam hit the pilot in the eye, temporarily blinding him. A Pasadena police helicopter investigating the incident was shot by the beam, too, but the pilot’s vision was not affected.

Defense attorneys, who did not respond for comment, were seeking two years of probation and community service.

The maximum penalty was five years for each charge.

I think the guy should have just gotten probation and a nasty fine. 2.5 years seems kind of harsh, but I haven't been able to see the video of what it looks like in the cockpit because my work sucks and blocks it. Maybe that would change my mind.

[Isgrimnur]

[Octavious]

Makes him look like the Hulk!

[Isgrimnur]

Number of laser "strikes" increasing dramatically.

Airline pilots, the Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI are launching a campaign to discourage laser strikes on planes, after the number of incidents reached a record high last year.

The FBI is offering rewards up to $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of someone who shined a laser at a plane. The Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 50,000 pilots, is working with the FAA to promote the campaign of public-service announcements, billboards and press releases focused in 12 cities.
...
The number of laser strikes has climbed sharply in the last decade, reaching 3,960 incidents last year.

The problem is that a person on the ground can aim a laser pointer, which can cost as little as $50, into the cockpit of a plane or helicopter. The cockpit glass diffuses the light, which pilots complain is like a flashbulb going off and temporarily hurting their vision at a critical time of taking or landing a plane.
...
The cities where the campaign is focused are: Albuquerque; Chicago; Cleveland; Houston; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Sacramento; San Antonio; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Washington, D.C.

[Kasey Chang]

Actually the solution is incredibly simple: "laser spotter network", much like the "spot spotter" acoustic sensors available in many metro areas to pinpoint shootings.

With GPS accurate coordinates, cameras and/or sensors that scan 360, and some simple math it can't be that hard to find the origin within seconds of the laser going up into the sky.

And it can't be that hard for Boeing and Airbus to to design "anti-laser" windshields.

But what'll REALLY be outrageous would be a fleet of autonomous drones whose only job is to intercept those lasers. (imagine something zipping along at tree-top level to block the laser beam) AND get a picture of you to transmit to the police as evidence.

[Kasey Chang]

How about you look at what the actual view is when one hits a cockpit windscreen?

Let's not forget Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor, where Ding and Clark went to Japan to sabotage their AWACs... by flashing their cockpit with an ultra-strong and laser-like strobe.

[Isgrimnur]

On the plus side, my fiancee just bought me the green beam Nano. On the down side, I live under the approach path of the local municipal airport.

[Turtle]

Let me know how that laser works for you.

I've been looking to get a laser with a line lens attachment for tabletop gaming use, but most lasers I've seen with line lenses were either too weak, or bulky things meant for construction. I kind of wanted a green one, but would rather get a red one if that's safer.

[Isgrimnur]

Green is more visible to the human eye, so the wattage is lower. The page linked shows the wattage for each color, and the manual linked from there shows the visibility graph. They sell a $30 lens kit that has a line tool, and these things are much better than your local Walgreens are selling. While I'll probably pass on those, the brightness definitely has me thinking about the $20 goggles.

We were able to see the beam in a mostly-darkened room yesterday. Given the hours I work and the late sunsets, I won't have too much of an opportunity to play with it for long periods. I need to look for some astronomy clubs for when the nights get longer/earlier.

[Isgrimnur]

Maryland

Maryland State Police have charged a Sykesville man after a pilot and trooper were injured when a laser beam was pointed at their helicopter.

Media outlets report that the helicopter was flying in Westminster about 1 a.m. Monday. Troopers say the cockpit of the aircraft was struck by a green laser beam about eight times.

Authorities say the helicopter crew found the source of the laser beam was a home in Sykesville, where the laser pointer was found.

Thirty-year-old Connor Brown is charged with shining a laser pointer at an aircraft and other offenses. Online court records don't list a lawyer for Brown.

Police say the pilot and the crew chief, both with State Police Aviation Command, sustained eye injuries. They were treated and released at Frederick Memorial Hospital

[Unagi]

Curious what type of laser related eye injuries result in being 'treated and released'.

[Isgrimnur]

Laser eye injuries and treatment

[Unagi]

I don't mean to sound like a dick - but I doubt these guys had anything beyond "Minor Injury" and in your link that wouldn't even result in a visit to the Dr.

My point really is that there is very little 'middle ground' with eye injuries and lasers. You either don't really have much beyond a spot that will 'heal' pretty soon, or you have some serious burn where 'treated and released' wouldn't imply.

[Isgrimnur]

Any symptoms that last past the initial flash are going to send them to the hospital for evaluation. Their careers rely on their vision. Any permanent effects are going to ground them permanently.

Note that the listed actions are for the Army, who aren't going to be nearly as concerned with Private Pyle having a bit of a dark spot.

[Unagi]

OK, I will give you that.

[Isgrimnur]

[Paingod]

Why did they look at the laser? Even I know better than to stick my face into a checkout scanner.

[Isgrimnur]

How about you look at what the actual view is when one hits a cockpit windscreen?

[Kasey Chang]

Why did they look at the laser? Even I know better than to stick my face into a checkout scanner.

At that high, the beam width is probably width of aircraft's nose. No avoiding it.

[Isgrimnur]

December in Florida

Never, ever point a laser pointer at an aircraft. Your cat’s favorite toy can blind the pilots aboard that aircraft, who will not be pleased. One man in Pasco County, Florida, somehow came up with an even worse idea: pointing a laser pointer at a police helicopter, which then promptly landed to arrest him for it.

Pasco County Sheriff’s Office pilots Stephen Bowman and Tim Bullis were helping officers with a barricaded suspect on Tuesday night when a red laser light flashed into their cockpit, police told ABC News.

“It blinded us for a couple of seconds. Extremely painful,” Bowman told WFTS. “At night, low and making turns and you get struck by a laser, couple seconds and you can fall a couple hundred feet.”

The pilots counted ten flashes of the laser on the helicopter’s onboard video. Because this was keeping them from being of any use in the air and no officers were available on the ground to take care of the pointer, the officers landed the helicopter in the nearby Portuguese American Cultural Association’s parking lot and arrested suspect Ryan Fluke, 27, themselves.

[Daehawk]

Glad they arrested the stupid mother F'r. People like them shouldn't share my air.

[Isgrimnur]

Jalopnik

The incidents started in 2018, in Djibouti of all places, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The small, strategically located African country has long been a base for U.S. and French military forces operating throughout the Horn of Africa region. Chinese military forces, after securing a ten year lease in 2016, moved in and quickly carved out a large base. Soon, U.S. military pilots were reporting lasers pointed at their aircraft as they flew near the Chinese base. In May 2018 the Pentagon reported that two pilots of a C-130 transport suffered minor eye injuries due to a “military grade laser,” and that there had been between “two and ten” laser strikes on U.S. aircraft.

But last week, word came from the South China Sea that Australian helicopter pilots were recent victims of laser strikes. Pilots operating from the amphibious ship HMAS Canberra reported lasers aimed at them as their ship travelled from Vietnam to Singapore, transiting the South China Sea along the way, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute:
...
The laser strikes and the Maritime Militia are a way of conducting aggressive—even dangerous activities—without directly using the Chinese military, and thus offering plausible deniability to the Chinese government. Many of the instances of laser strikes hitting American aircraft in Djibouti didn’t originate from the base itself, but from the waters just off the coast.

In the incident involving HMAS Canberra, the Chinese military acted quite professionally while nearby fishing boats were the ones shining lasers.