Sha Bu Le Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) Another incident involving an airliner with over 250 people on board. Co-pilot targeted as the plane left for New York. Pilot took the plane back to Heathrow as a precautionary measure. In 2014 there were over a1000 such incidents, begs the question how long before both pilots are affected. Time they were banned from general sale and meaningful sentences given for anyone caught aiming one at a plane...........jail time would be appropriate. Not sure if such punishments are available for endangerment of an aircraft. If not they should be. Edited February 15, 2016 by Sha Bu Le Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munzy Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I don't understand how you can hit the cockpit of a plane with a laser pen. Ok, the laser goes a long way but you have to have the eyes of an eagle with a telescope to be able to see the laser dot on your target. What am I missing here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzzicat Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Anyone carrying one after dark "carrying an offensive weapon" worse than a knife. One pilot already suffered serious eye damage,watch the video on news Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 If the plane was in the air, that is not taking off or landing how would it be possible to shine a laser on the pilots from the ground? Blackpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretagentmole Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I don't understand how you can hit the cockpit of a plane with a laser pen. Ok, the laser goes a long way but you have to have the eyes of an eagle with a telescope to be able to see the laser dot on your target. What am I missing here? A concentrated beam of light shone into your eyes is what you are missing, they may be trying to paint the side of the plane with laser light, but flukes happen and it can shine through cockpit windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James1983 Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I had one shone on me when I was driving before from a fair distance away and the beam isn't as concentrated and filled my view with a bright green light. I had to slow right down as couldn't see where I was going. Now don't know if the person using it could see if was pointing at me as I was about a mile away from where it looked to be coming from. Now it didn't make me feel ill or anything was just like my field of vision was blocked until the person moved it away and switched off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breastman Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 9/10 it turns out to be a stupid kid that doesn't know the danger they're creating, and often are below the age of criminal responsibility anyway. Considering how many are already out there and how easy they are to build yourself, I'd say 'ban them' is hardly the solution. (Even less so that it ever is). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 My laser pen is tiny but it is capable of shining quite a distance. Only last December I shone it across the river Tweed which must have been 100m across at that stage and I illuminated an Otter. The animal must have known it was being lit up but I was able to observe it hunting in the river margins relatively un disturbed. The roosting ducks and geese were much more jumpy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brett1985 Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 9/10 it turns out to be a stupid kid that doesn't know the danger they're creating, and often are below the age of criminal responsibility anyway. Considering how many are already out there and how easy they are to build yourself, I'd say 'ban them' is hardly the solution. (Even less so that it ever is). ^exactly this!^ banning them wont solve the problem, the same as banning guns wont solve gun crime. there needs to be effective punishments handed out for those caught misusing them. it amazes me that we, as people who usually have a good understanding of how banning things rarely has the desired affect, will act like those we despise when presented with an issue. just out of interest, anyone use an ND3 for shooting rabbits? if lasers were outright banned, you may as well throw your designator in the bin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 They are used in carp angling circles to moves diving ducks and coots from baited spots, to stop them picking up hook baits and getting hooked. My laser pen is tiny but it is capable of shining quite a distance. Only last December I shone it across the river Tweed which must have been 100m across at that stage and I illuminated an Otter. The animal must have known it was being lit up but I was able to observe it hunting in the river margins relatively un disturbed. The roosting ducks and geese were much more jumpy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFC Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 The cockpit is in semi-darkness to allow the pilots to see outside. You can see from dark into light but you can't see from light into dark, as anyone who's done night guard duty will know. The green light will be refracted through the multi-layers of the cockpit window so, even if it doesn't shine in the pilots eyes, it will fill the cockpit with light and make it more dangerous. Last week some ******* was shining one from the park outside onto the curtains of my first floor flat. I didn't open the curtains to see where it was coming from because I knew that would be the reaction they wanted. Sure enough, they soon got bored and it stopped. Apart from it being a criminal offence to endanger an aircraft, I think the perpetrator should have their laser shoved into such a place that their head would light up every time they opened their mouth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landy george Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) The problem is they'll keep going till they hit something. < than 1mw is safe, anything more than that WILL blind you. Please for gods sake don't try it. Some of the ones for sale are 200/300mw. It's all to do with the power & distance & of course if they are IR that's a different story. All the other colour's you'll see & move away but with IR you can't see them. Edited February 15, 2016 by landy george Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wascal Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 The courts don't mess about when dealing with aviation offences The maximum sentence for actions likely to endanger an aircraft is "LIFE" Catching them is the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadkill Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 We had an incident a couple of years ago and the offending person was jailed for it, this was at East Midlands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaymo Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Right Here we go Under the ANO ( Air Navigation Order) it is indeed an offence punishable by fines and Prison The problem is as mentioned capturing the offending idiot- I would use several other terms but it would be offensive to those who are genuinely Mentally retarded. The problem is those that do it don't see their actions as anything more than a laugh and not ( without overdramatising it) - attempted murder/manslaughter Now you may think this is an over reaction, but not all Aircraft are Mulri Crewed so blinding of the only acting Crew member would result in the incapacitation of that Pilot of which the consequences would be the death of those onboard. For Multi Crew Aircraft the potential is there too, however the chance of both Pilots looking directly at the laser is reduced. But it does happen- how do I know? Well I'm one of those who's office is a shiny piece of aluminium and have experienced incidents such as this on an all too frequent basis. I myself have had temporary blindness caused by this ( albeit a fleeting glance and so very temporary- like looking directly at the sun) Colleagues and friends who fly have suffered longer term vision defects as a result. Other times the whole flighdeck fleetingly illuminates at which point in your periphery you try and pinpoint where you think it's coming from. We report it immediately and if continued targeting will consider if on the Approach of breaking off and diverting. What happens after we report this is that an action plan by ATC is put into place and local Authorities are informed and after landing I'm usually interview by the Police for any potential prosecutions. Unfortunately most of these incidents are untraceable unless the idiot concerned continued their exploits over s period of time. Worst time for us I find is usually in Europe around holiday times when these things seem to be available as prizes at fairgrounds- to such an extent that I never look at fairgrounds anymore. Not the summary- would I like to see the sale of Lasers banned, nope as fortunately not everyone is an idiot and if it's not lasers then it's fireworks or something else Besides that, the cat loves a good chase round the room following one :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wascal Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 these idiots shone a laser pen at a police helicopter then waited around to get nicked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaOhD2r-Y8c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I have a laser designator which I used to use on my air rifle. it's <35mW and can drop a green dot on a building over half a mile away and see it with the naked eye! Over further distance using bino's I would say more than a mile would be easy. When a friend of mine seen it for the first time he laughed and said "forget the pellets, just burn them to death" Still got it somewhere but not used it in quite a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Son bought a laser pen in Tenerife while on holiday some years ago. I thought it would be some cheap tat but it's brilliant and the beam seems infinite. I use it as part of my art workshops and demos as it's great for pointing out particular effects/stages in the creation of a painting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krugerandsmith Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 Another incident involving an airliner with over 250 people on board. Co-pilot targeted as the plane left for New York. Pilot took the plane back to Heathrow as a precautionary measure. In 2014 there were over a1000 such incidents, begs the question how long before both pilots are affected. Time they were banned from general sale and meaningful sentences given for anyone caught aiming one at a plane...........jail time would be appropriate. Not sure if such punishments are available for endangerment of an aircraft. If not they should be. At RAF Fairford air display four years ago ..... They were selling Laser pens on the stalls ....I thought it was madness at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint1 Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 You would think that some smart rs would come up with an anti-laser coating for aircraft windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted February 15, 2016 Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 I bought one our in spain some years ago (probably 98 )when they first appeared with the intention of using it as a sort of quick scope zeroing aid by shining it down the rifle barrel and putting the crosshairs on the dot to save zeroing ammunition. As previously stated the range of this thing is out of sight. Recently I have bought a laser cartridge for practising gun mount with. The type of thing that is being used to illuminate aircraft is a lot, lot more powerful than these pen type lasers. If this is happening on a regular basis in a given area than surely all that has to be done is to have a plod concealed somewhere around the buildings and pinpoint which flat the beam is coming from. If it is kids then they will be playing about with it lighting up surrounding buildings ( Again, as previously stated). it isn't exactly rocket science but then when you see the mentality of some people you do wonder. Plod probably has to wait until he incident to do anything and by then it is all over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landy george Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 I did a course on laser safety a couple of years ago. The instructor said a boy was messing about with a high powered IR. He couldn't figure out why couldn't see anything coming out, he then found he had a big black spot in his field of vision. He still didn't know why so he then tried it on the other eye As you can imagine he now has a pair of eyes he has big black spots in his field of vision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essex Keeper Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 i don't use my my nd any more because of the laser beam it switched on once when moving out of the highseat its like light sabre ti the stars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 i don't use my my nd any more because of the laser beam it switched on once when moving out of the highseat its like light sabre ti the stars You probably the reason UFO's crash in Rozwell You blinding the little green pilots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laird Lugton Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 I've been lasered in the cockpit about 4 times. Twice at Edinburgh, once on approach into Geneva and one somewhere else that I've forgotten. I've never suffered temporary blindness as we have been at a decent altitude 5-6000ft when it's happened. But I remember they managed to light up the cockpit temporarily destroying our night vision. You report it, the police arrive at the aircraft, you give a statement. The police say they can't catch them (so the statement is useless) as they will have long gone and all it does is delay the next sector or your off duty. I have ceased to report it. Half the time I think the miscreants are sitting listening in with a scanner to see if they have been successful, hence the reason not to give them the satisfaction. That said I hear there are more powerful lasers on the market that will do real damage. Short of having a copper on every corner I can't think what can be done. I am against banning. Before laser pens it used to be industrial firework rockets off the end of the runway (I jest not). He was caught and spent time in a government sponsored youth hostel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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