Lasers aimed inside AIRLINE cockpits...

www.homelandsecurityus.com...


Looks like a few planes last night had lasers aimed inside the cockpit just before landing. Could terrorists be practicing for the next terror attacks inside the US. Maybe they plan on shooting the pilots inside a the cockpit just before landing. That would cause of alot of deaths and a big hit on the airline industry again.

In the past couple of years pilots have reported lasers, so i hope it's nothing but some kids playing with lasers, but you never know with these terrorists.

Meh. It's probably a bunch of stupid teenagers. Last time I checked RPG's aren't laser guided.

sardion2000: I'm not talking about RPG's, im reffering to infra-red guns. I wonder if the cockpit windows are bullet proof.

Originally posted by DaVillen
sardion2000: I'm not talking about RPG's, im reffering to infra-red guns. I wonder if the cockpit windows are bullet proof.

It's a possibility I guess. Maybe some plane guys will have an answer, though I have heard of safe landings even with a blown cockpit window midflight! If it was during Landing I can see how the distraction of a bullet going through the windshield can cause some major accident but on takeoff? I dunno. It would be easier to shoot at the fuel tanks wouldn't you think?

yeah maybe just a bunch of stupid teenagers... but how did the teenagers get "commercial type lasers" anddd whend kids go from throwing snowballs at cars to commiting a federal crime ( is it a federal crime? ) like endangering a hundred or more citizens in an airplane. I mean sure it might just be some stupid kids, but you never know now and days. people are crazy. Is that just how reckless people are, to endanger peoples lives for fun? ggeeezz

I built a commercial laser on my spare time and you can buy em off the web for well they aren't cheap but you can buy them. Teens don't exactly think things through "under the influence" if you catch my drift.

Originally posted by sardion2000

Originally posted by DaVillen
sardion2000: I'm not talking about RPG's, im reffering to infra-red guns. I wonder if the cockpit windows are bullet proof.

It's a possibility I guess. Maybe some plane guys will have an answer, though I have heard of safe landings even with a blown cockpit window midflight! If it was during Landing I can see how the distraction of a bullet going through the windshield can cause some major accident but on takeoff? I dunno. It would be easier to shoot at the fuel tanks wouldn't you think?

Shooting fuel tanks would probably be easier, but a plane in the process of landing being shot in the cockpit would cause more deaths. Who knows what the plane might hit on the ground (could even hit other planes).

Oh i thought maybe a commercial laser was something hard to get. even as a teenager, why would they have any need for a commercial laser, i mean there not gonna drink some beer and say, HEY BUDS LETS BY A COMMERCIAL LASER, POINT IT AT AIRPLANES AND HOPE EVERYONE DIES?

i hope not man.

Originally posted by mfj649212
Oh i thought maybe a commercial laser was something hard to get. even as a teenager, why would they have any need for a commercial laser, i mean there not gonna drink some beer and say, HEY BUDS LETS BY A COMMERCIAL LASER, POINT IT AT AIRPLANES AND HOPE EVERYONE DIES?

i hope not man.

Maybe it's the airport workers on the ground high or drunk having a little fun. People are crazy, mad and bored these days.

If i had a pound for every heavily armoured window we had shot through in S. Armagh from a .50cal sniper rifle, stick a laser sight on a Barrat .50cal and the result would'nt be pretty. so those cockpits would have to be VERY heavily armoured if you ask me. We found firing platforms situated directly in the path of our choppers landing path, very nasty business.

Hopefully though as you said, it's just kids messing about.

CX.

yeah. Well with all the restrictions and rules and laws on every single thing. how do you expect people to have fun? you hang out somewhere, you get stuck with loitering , get kicked out, thats what you adults are doing to kids now and days, troubles fun sometimes.

But trying to blind a pilot isnt the right path is it, its probably cuz there from detroit. Some bad kids there mann. hhaha

Originally posted by DaVillen
(could even hit other planes).

Unlikely as they gotta be cleared to land(cleared as in no planes near the LZ) I guess it's a possibility. RPGs would be easier though. Also you have to consider that it wouldn't cause explosive decompression(at least I don't think, I'm not a plane guy and I'm just using logic to think this through)

Also Pilots are a pretty hardy bunch and are trained to avoid things on the ground at all costs(even at the cost of their own lives).

Risk/Reward is very very low. Blinding the pilots is a much bigger danger with flashing lasers at Cockpits IMHO.

Oh i thought maybe a commercial laser was something hard to get. even as a teenager, why would they have any need for a commercial laser, i mean there not gonna drink some beer and say, HEY BUDS LETS BY A COMMERCIAL LASER, POINT IT AT AIRPLANES AND HOPE EVERYONE DIES?

Well I don't think they are trying to kill someone. Geeks can be very very stupid as well. I remember this one really smart kid tried to blind me with a laser he built himself, knocked him out after he tried but NEways. It's called Acting before Thinking and I was guilty of that many times in my youth. I would not do something like this though...

Also another thing, if they do shot out the window they can still land by instrumantation alone, it's what they do during really rough weather.

Any plane guys know the status of Automated landing technology? This could make the possiblity of this happening 0%.

[edit on 14-2-2006 by sardion2000]

Yeah, imagine what the world would be like if people thought about the consquences of their actions before they did things. Imagine if the laser really did cause a plane crash, do you think the government would have blamed it on terrorism, or maybe it really is terrorism. I think that terrorists would do something more drastic then attempting to blind a pilot with a laser.

Yeah, imagine what the world would be like if people thought about the consquences of their actions before they did things. Imagine if the laser really did cause a plane crash, do you think the government would have blamed it on terrorism, or maybe it really is terrorism. I think that terrorists would do something more drastic then attempting to blind a pilot with a laser.

[edit on 14-2-2006 by mfj649212]

Well it's in my opinion that Terrorists will try to cause Systems disruptions like attacking critical nodes in Power, Water, Sewage etc. All in a concerted effort to cause cascading failures across a very wide area. Think NorthEast Blackout type of cascade.

Just look at the London Attacks and 9/11 attacks. The Former caused an entire shutdown of the London subway system and 9/11 pretty much shutdown the entire country and the City of Newyork for a better part of a week.

[edit on 14-2-2006 by sardion2000]

I dont know, i dont think there capiable of taking out our water, or power unless their blowing up a Power plant or something along the lines of that. It seems to me that they love to make a big impact in the news and media, they want to get there message out there that they wont back down. It doesnt look like they do anything else beside scare tactics and blowing buildings, cars, and civilians up. I believe they might try something like a suitcase bomb in a major city like new york or washington, maybe they'll try new targets like Los Angeles or Seattle.

I think if they attack a major US city again we will be quicker to repair, and fix the problems they damaged.

[edit on 14-2-2006 by mfj649212]

Originally posted by mfj649212
I dont know, i dont think there capiable of taking out our water, or power unless their blowing up a Power plant or something along the lines of that. It seems to me that they love to make a big impact in the news and media, they want to get there message out there that they wont back down. It doesnt look like they do anything else beside scare tactics and blowing buildings, cars, and civilians up. I believe they might try something like a suitcase bomb in a major city like new york or washington, maybe they'll try new targets like Los Angeles or Seattle.

You wouldn't need to take out a power plant, all you would need to take out is a transformer at a critical juncture and the system would shut itself down as it's how it's built.(It does that to protect the Grid from further damaging itself)

It wouldn't take much if they hit us at the right place at the right time like at the start of Rush Hour in the NY Subway system, or during the hot summer months when power is at it's peak. Do not underestimate them. They will burrow deep and strike when and where it's least expected.

Here is an article talking about how the grid is setup. All the information is out there.
science.howstuffworks.com...

Any centralized system is extremely vulnerable to these types of attacks and it would garner HUGE publicity. They are like terror investors, if the Risk/Reward ratio is attractive enough they cannot resist.

Take Georgia(the Country), all it took to remove ALL natural gas imports from that entire country was two count em TWO destroyed pipelines. Very cheap and VERY EASY attack that will cause chaos if they don't find another supply.

globalguerrillas.typepad.com...

[edit on 14-2-2006 by sardion2000]

[edit on 14-2-2006 by sardion2000]

Yeah, thanks for that article that helped me understand that alot more, i never really got the process anyways. I know they might not need to knock out a whole power plant, but i think that they would prefer to. They would love to see america helpless and at loss of power.

Originally posted by mfj649212
Yeah, thanks for that article that helped me understand that alot more, i never really got the process anyways. I know they might not need to knock out a whole power plant, but i think that they would prefer to. They would love to see america helpless and at loss of power.

Taking out a plant wouldn't necessarily take out the entire grid NEway. You would need to take out multiple plants and that's easier said then done. It's much easier and harder to detect when and where an attack would occur on the supply side of things rather then the source side. Protecting power plants is alot easier then protecting the Thousands of miles of high voltage power lines and transformers which are usually just protected by a fence with razor wire.

OF course the power grid is just an example, they could just as easily do this with any Centralised infrastructure we depend upon like Sewage, Natural Gas, Heating Oil etc etc.

Widespread Terror, Confusion and Monetary loss is their primary objective.

[edit on 14-2-2006 by sardion2000]