http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/laser-menace-targeting-aircraft/2008/01/23/1201024957784.html

Last August, the pilot of a Qantas Boeing 767 from Sydney carrying 185 passengers to Darwin was targeted by a powerful laser beam, prompting an investigation by federal police and aviation authorities.

The incident, just before midnight on August 3, resulted in the pilot having to fly the next day's return leg from Darwin to Sydney as a passenger. He was referred to a Qantas doctor for assessment

Excuse me for being stupid, but wtf? Does the light f*** with the navigation or something? Or is this some form of terrorist scare?
Is the pilot just a pussy? Quantus doctor for assessment?

Powerful laser + pointing it at airplane + wider beam at that distance = possible eye damage for pilot flying?

i think it would just be a distraction/annoyance. he probally reported as per qantas procedures and qantas sent him to a doctor to cover their asses.

still, what kind of dumbass would do that? what are they hoping for? the plan to crash and people to die?

some little c***s were doing it on the runways at some airport, and the pilot f***ing s*** himself (as you would) thinking it was like a laser guided gun, or missile , or w/e

think of all the s*** that would go thru a pilots head everytime they fly

it would be a f***ing hugely stressful job!

There's a million stories about things like this happening in the US. I saw this one pop up in Dec last year so I resurrect it for your enjoyment. Read the comments, they're very illuminating (teehee). Here's a good one:

I am a laser engineer at work (I work with dangerous class IV lasers) and have taken laser safety courses.

| Else, infra-red lasers, being completely invisible to the human eye, would not be dangerous at all.

Absolutely positively not true. Laser sources that emit a non-visible beam fall in class IIIR, class IIIB or class IV which are the worst eye hazards regardless of power. ANSI Z136.1 specifies that non-visible class IIIR or higher laser beams must be enclosed to prevent laser radiation exposure to non-trained personnel.

I work around exposed class IV CO2 10600nm laser beams capable of putting out 100 watts (that's watts, not mW) of power. The beam is invisible to the human eye yet it is capable of cutting metal. "Not dangerous at all" is a serious understatement.

The same guy also says in a different post:

Incorrect. Any laser higher than class 1M can cause permanent eye damage. Laser eye injuries are extremely painful even at class II 1mW or lower levels. Class IIIR (formerly IIIa) lasers can produce no more than 5mW, but class IIIB lasers can produce as much as 500mW and can cause skin damage.

Lasers are not a controlled substance. One could purchase a class IIIB green laser that puts out 500mW of laser energy and really do damage to a pilot from the ground. If you think these people are exaggerating about their suffering, you are dead wrong.

In conclusion, I'd love to catch someone pointing a laser at a plane

last edited by trog at 15:45:29 23/Jan/08

This has happened twice near Brisbane Airport in recent months (laser into the cockpit). You can go to jail for 2 years if you're caught lasering a plane in QLD.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/11/2029348.htm

Can't find the more recent incident, but I found this:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/laser-blinds-copter-pilot-carrying-sick-patient/2007/09/29/1190486633701.html

A HELICOPTER carrying a critically ill brain surgery patient could not land after the pilot was targeted by a laser beam from the ground.

last edited by Idol at 15:54:55 23/Jan/08

Woah! Learn something new everyday :) I knew QGL would provide the answer.

To be honest I didn't google it...I'm a bad person :(

yes matty, you are;

just the other day pilots were reporting some loser in the runcorn area was shinning lasers at them;

its quite annoying, a heap of dudes at work have the weak laser pointers, and insist on shining them on you while everyone else luffs;

"It is just people thinking that it is an interesting thing to do, like throwing rocks at a car windscreen.

"It is a very dumb thing to do when he is in charge of the 200 or 300 people on board."

Mr Gibson said that over the past 18 months more than 170 incidents of commercial aircraft being targeted by laser beams had been reported in Australia.

news com au

i'd imagine if you're flying at night and cop a laser to the eye (at whatever range) it would mess with your night vision for a bit. plus your pupils would be very dilated at the time so more of the light would be let in.

really annoys me how people treat lasers of any strength. so many people pick them up and immediately shine it in people's eyes and laugh at their reactions. too bad if these people unknowingly pick up one of the more powerful lasers one day.

Sometimes hospital equipment with lasers don't get disposed of properly and are found and salvaged. They could be pretty nasty.

u can order all kinds of lasers, right up to massively strong ones

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?board=b_companies

this bad boy will set a newspaper on fire

http://www.optotronics.com/r-lithium-ion.php

last edited by Spook at 16:33:52 23/Jan/08

there's instructions on the net on how to turn a dvd drive laser into a handy device for lighting matches and popping balloons.

the dvd drive mod has been modded to make it better at cockpit action too.. can't remember where I saw that, maybe slashdot.

Tom Clancy write a story about downing a plane using a lasor - one of his hunt for red october style of books.. if my memory serves it was a jap plane that was landing and both pilots went blind causeing the crash which killed the vip on board - WINNAH

Tom Clancy write a story about downing a plane using a lasor

My recollection was that it wasn't a laser, it was just a super-bright spotlight. I think it was 'Debt of Honor' (Clark and Chavez where the characters doing it) but can't recall for sure.

Powerful laser + pointing it at airplane + wider beam at that distance = possible eye damage for pilot flying?

Actually wider beam means less energy per cm^2...

wider beam at that distance = possible eye damage for pilot flying?

wider beam would actually reduce eye damage since there's less energy incident per square metre of surface area.

At the photonics lab at UQ we had to wear protective goggles at all times. While the laser couldn't really harm you at visible wavelengths (you would blink and look away by reflex, causing no damage), but some of the wavelengths we used weren't visible and hence your eyes wouldn't react and cause you to blink .. causing damage very quickly.

Shining lasers at planes is stupid. There should be serious jail-time for that sort of s***.

^5 Fish

Matt,

Deal extreme has 30Mw green lasers for around 20 bucks US, making them affordable to almost everybody. I purchased one last year and the green beam is highly visible in the night sky. (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.469)
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/1433/046970bd9131066a492891bxf1.th.jpg


People are using these green lasers to try and hit planes, in doing so they hit the cockpit (by accident i hope). The range on these lasers is over 14km, meaning that you will hit stuff so far away, you wont be able to see it. Most laser forums will not allow users to post their pictures of their lasers pointing into the sky due to the fact that you could be blinding people in aircraft that you cant see.
And dont be fooled, a 30Mw laser will blind people easily.. there is a story from a guy on dealextreme forums who was cleaning the lense of his laser without taking out the batteries, got himself in the eye and now has a permanent black spot where the light burnt his retina... these things are powerful these days.

sounds like it's time to put restrictions on them similar to guns

i think you mean mW, not MW.

big difference.

sounds like it's time to put restrictions on them similar to guns

Its only a matter of time as there is no reason that people need powerful lasers in non industrial settings

Light shows?

Wouldn't the light also shatter when it hits the cockpit window sending light all around the inside.

I was talking about wider divergence leading to more chance of the beam hitting the pilots general viewing area, rather than narrow, but yeah.

Also, laser pointers do have certain restrictions in australia or some states states, I forget, it's been a while, I think it's over class 2 or 3 or 1mW or whatever.

Wouldn't the light also shatter when it hits the cockpit window sending light all around the inside.

ever shined a torch through a window?

it punches straight through chief

There ya go, I thought the piliot was just being a pussy getting a laser pointer shined in his eye and freaking out. I had also assumed that such powerful lasers would not be available to the general public!
In this day and age theres SOMETHING thats not restricted! *touch wood desk*