Thing is, 1W lasers have just come on the market at very cheap prices and from short range they can blind you before you get time to react and close your eyes. Won't be long till a 2 watt laser comes out, then a 10, then a 20. Kids will be able to draw pictures on the moon before long.
This has never been a problem before because the technology has not been available to do it.
Think what you like, and bear in mind that you're quoting from the FAA, who don't control UK airport legislation - the document you quote from mentions laser free zones of several miles surrounding the airport. Not something that's going to happen in somewhere with the UK's population density.
I hope you aren't responsible for risk assessments in your line of work 😆
Fred
Further typical trolling from you. You evidently don't understand the issue and cannot put it into context. However, you plough on regardless with ne'er a regard to common sense. Most people have an internal voice telling them to stop - it appears yours is drowned out by the other voices. For the love of all the little pixies, troll another forum. There must be many out there where you'd be seen as some sort of messiah. No matter how well you re-start, you resume your usual antics in the same old style.
From the CAA website:
The targeting of aircraft and ATS installations by lasers poses a threat to aircraft safety and security through the physiological impact upon pilots and ATS personnel. This can include distraction, glare, temporary flash blindness, afterimage, and possibly eye injury. Current expert opinion is that, except over short distances, lasers pose minimal threat of permanent or long-term personal injury. At critical stages of flight, however, distractions caused to aircrew or ATS personnel by lasers could threaten aircraft safety.
fred, i cant see you getting to the end of the month without yet another ban
What for, having an independent opinion? Have I offended anyone? Do I not have the right to express my own opinions like everyone else?
My point is, that whilst I accept there is a tiny element of danger in such stupid activity, the level of hysteria it generates is disproportionate, as was the ridiculous banning of all fluids from hand luggage (so the airlines can sell you expensive drinks...).
If we just get on with our lives, accepting that shit happens sometimes, instead of worrying about 'what ifs' all the bloody time, then maybe we'd relax and not be so stressed.
Seems that the media consider this a far more serious issue than aviation authorities anyway, proving me right. 🙂
My point is, that whilst I accept there is a tiny element of danger in such stupid activity, the level of hysteria it generates is disproportionate, as was the ridiculous banning of all fluids from hand luggage (so the airlines can sell you expensive drinks...).
I'm all for people making informed decisions. I remember at the time, a professor of chemistry or some such explaining why creating an explosive by mixing two liquid was near impossible to do on a moving aircraft.
I understand the concept of moral panic, and how it's applied by the media and by politicians.
However, you're taking a stance that's just as illogical as the bloke who believes everything he reads. You seem to think that just because the media is making a fuss about something, it cannot be a problem.
Several people have provided explanation of how this could be very dangerous, and you're just not listening. To go any further in explaining the issue would probably breach anti terror law...
Fred, You have shot your bolt so many times on this forum that you are on a short leash as far as we are concerned. You DON'T get the same levels of freedom as other more temperate and respectful forum users get. You have endless warnings and bans on your record and the very fact you are allowed to post at all, ever, is a huge concession on our part that you really need to be very thankful for.
Mark; YGM.
Well said Mod.
You'd need a fairly powerful (and expensive) laser to do any 'damage'. Think about it: The sun is far, far more powerful than any laser, and looking straight at the sun for a split second won't permanently damage your eyesight.
Umm, Fred, you are really not on top of this thread at all mate. In the daytime, your eyes are well used to bright sunlight and can cope much better. At night they are tuned for darkness.
First hand experience: On a mountain walk that ended in darkness, someone decided to take a photo of the group. Of course, the flash was activated. In normal evening indoor conditions, flashes are just a bit bright. After a few hours of night vision, it was very painful indeed. Take it from me.
You're not a pilot, nor are you an eye doctor. So you don't really know for sure what the risks are. Are you advocating not bothering to do anything about the problem until there's a plane crash? Then we'll know for sure what the risks are.
Not really worth the risk, is it?
Oh, and car headlights are quite different to lasers.
I'm backing out of this one, as it's clear I've upset someone and that's not my intention.
Peace.
Good man.
I think pilots have every reason to be concerned, especially with more powerful lasers coming available and being the sort of job that requires total focus.
The sun produces immense energy and light in all directions so by the time it reaches your eye its original power is reduced many times. The lens in your eye can still focus it enough to damage your retina though.
However, a Laser produces a beam of photons all travelling in a straight line that don't stray a lot from their original pattern and aren't as far away from the sun
If the sun provides us with 1400W/m2 this doesn't sound much compared to a 200mW laser but the raw beam may only be 0.5cm2 so then we're looking at a power density of 400000W/m2. Not insignificant methinks.
can i set my cows on him? please? can i?
I recently saw an advert for a ridiculously cheap and very powerful lazer that states, in a way that guarantees that the idiotic most certainly will, that you must not shine it at planes, motorists, cyclists and anything else that might be affected. It also delighted in the significant eye injury that could be wreaked. With such low prices and ever increasing power, I don't think it will be long before pilots are bathed in lazer light in the way German bombers were swathed in searchlights in WW2.
If the threat of terrorism isn't an illusion then one might argue that these amateur attacks are doing aircraft users a favour by pointing out the potential danger, and for that matter it doesn't take a terrorist but merely any disaffected citizen to take a pop with almost zero chance of being caught...
Just so you know - it is taken seriously
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11332837 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11332837[/url]
Just seen this thread for the first time.
What a lot of hysterical hogwash from most of you. Sheesh.
