Laser Blinds Passenger Jet Pilot

Laser Blinds Passenger Jet Pilot

news.bbc.co.uk

The pilot of a passenger jet was blinded by a laser device as the aircraft came in to land at Durham Tees Valley Airport, police said.

The KLM jet, with 40 people onboard, landed safely after the co-pilot took the controls on Sunday night.

A Cleveland Police helicopter was also targeted as it searched an area around the airport near Darlington.

A police spokesman said a 19-year-old man had been arrested and charged with two counts of endangering an aircraft.

(visit the link for the full news article)

well, there had been stories and rumours of this happening before in the USA, but here was actually have a confirmed case of it happening and in the UK too.

The chap even apparently targetted a police helicopter with his "laser". I guess more info will be coming out soon when he get's to court.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

This shows the unbelievable state of the youth of today in England. One side of me believes that the kid was just mucking around and wasn't trying to crash the aircraft, just annoy the pilot (utter ignorance)- but the other half says he was deliberately trying to cause an accident. Either way I hope the passengers can line up and kick the hell out of this sod for almost causing a crash.

I say charge him with around 45 counts of attempted murder (the number of passengers + crew).

See how he likes that.

Well i dont think he wanted the plane to crash i think he wouldve just been mucking about but ye he should be punished but like like how everyone else is saying.

he is only 19 and everyone here wants to put him in prison for attempted murder.

Reminds me of this story:

www.astronautix.com...

1984 October 10 - Terra-3 illuminates US shuttle. -
After the American decision was taken into 1983 to initiate the 'Star Wars' strategic defence initiative program, Minister of Defence Ustinov requested that the Americans be challenged. As a 'warning shot' the Terra-3 complex was used to track the space shuttle Challenger with a low power laser. This caused malfunctions to on-board equipment and temporary blinding of the crew, leading to a US diplomatic protest.

reply to post by billyjoinedat2k8


If a 19 year old is too young to know that shining a high powered laser beam into the cockpit of a flying plane could cause a crash and deaths of anyone on board, then he clearly is too young to drive, vote, or even cross the street without an adult holding his hand.

Hell yes he should go to jail for this. It is no different than if he'd gone up on an overpass and shone a floodlight into the eyes of any oncoming cars.

He will likely be made an example of as a warning to others not to try this kind of thing. That is my prediction.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
reply to post by billyjoinedat2k8

 

If a 19 year old is too young to know that shining a high powered laser beam into the cockpit of a flying plane could cause a crash and deaths of anyone on board, then he clearly is too young to drive, vote, or even cross the street without an adult holding his hand.

Hell yes he should go to jail for this. It is no different than if he'd gone up on an overpass and shone a floodlight into the eyes of any oncoming cars.

Listen people make mistakes and ye i agree he should probably go to prison if hes got a record but if this is the first time hes got in trouble before he should get a warning or something you cant just throw him in prison just like that hes still just a kid.

reply to post by billyjoinedat2k8


He made two mistakes. First he pointed the laser at an airliner, but when the police were called, he turned it on the Police helicopter - if he can't learn from the first mistake then there is little hope for that fool.

Some of these lasers freely available are so powerful that they will burn straight through plastic/wood/paper. It goes without saying that being pointed into someones eyes while flying a jet full of passengers is going to be slightly dangerous to the well being of the pilot ATLEAST.

reply to post by dodgygeeza


ok well thats fair enough then if he did it twice he clearly never learnt his lesson but people are saying he should be charged with attempted murder and thats just plaine wrong but yes he should be punished

Whilst I hope that this guy gets made an example of (I'm sure the fact that he's 19 wouldn't be an excuse if he'd caused the deaths of those people) but what has impressed me is how quickly the police have picked him up!

I wonder if there were witnesses or if he'd bought his laser doodah with a credit card?

Or maybe even one of the many wonderful cctv cameras caught him? Either way that's pretty fast work

B

Originally posted by badBERTHA
Whilst I hope that this guy gets made an example of (I'm sure the fact that he's 19 wouldn't be an excuse if he'd caused the deaths of those people) but what has impressed me is how quickly the police have picked him up!

I wonder if there were witnesses or if he'd bought his laser doodah with a credit card?

Or maybe even one of the many wonderful cctv cameras caught him? Either way that's pretty fast work

I would guess the pilot reported a general neighborhood from where the laser appeared and then the perp kinda helped the cops when they were searching the general neighborhood with a bird by shining them. Considering a laser beam travels in a straight line it is kinda like holding up a huge neon sign that says "HERE I AM OFFICERS!" when you're dumb enough to glass the cops that are searching for you.

Attemped aggravated murder would be an suitable and just punishment for these pschopaths. One count for every person on board.
Just curious, was the pilot permanently blinded?

[edit on 8/18/2008 by jpm1602]

Originally posted by billyjoinedat2k8
reply to post by dodgygeeza

 

ok well thats fair enough then if he did it twice he clearly never learnt his lesson but people are saying he should be charged with attempted murder and thats just plaine wrong but yes he should be punished

OK, ponder this Billy.

Pretend you were on that flight. If I was a betting man, I'd bet you'd be pretty pissed off and would be asking for the same thing. I don't care if he didn't intend for the aircraft to crash, you don't do stupid stuff like this and say "well I didn't think of the consequences" after.

One thing some teens like to do is throw rocks off overpasses onto oncoming cars. Say they manage to kill someone one time, and when the cops are questioning them, their defense is "I didn't think of the consequences." Do you think the cops would have any mercy? Hell no!!!

This guy has no one to blame but himself for pulling such a stupid act, he's 19, not 12, and he deserves to get the book thrown at him. If he does end up getting charged with 45 counts of attempted murder (which I doubt very very much will happen), than good because if he was stupid enough to pull a stunt like this, it's only a matter of time before he kills somebody with some more of his genius plans.

That brings me to my second point. In your first post you said he was "just a kid"

Originally posted by billyjoinedat2k8
Listen people make mistakes and ye i agree he should probably go to prison if hes got a record but if this is the first time hes got in trouble before he should get a warning or something you cant just throw him in prison just like that hes still just a kid.

Errrr, no, I'm 19 myself, turning 20 in October. 19 is an age where you just don't do stupid stunts like this. This wasn't a "mistake", this was an ill thought out prank, and it's his own fault for not thinking it through. I can't believe that you are even trying to defend him, I get the impression from you that you are fairly young yourself so that might be why.

When you're an adult, there's consequences for your actions, and I guess this guy learned a valuable lesson.

He's just lucky he didn't cause a crash.



[edit on 18-8-2008 by ben420]

19 is not just a kid. You play with lasers you get burned!

So if he just hijacked a fuel tanker and sent it careening into a mall, that would just be a kids prank? Hey it's his first time.

I don't think one of those pen lasers would blind a pilot at range, you have to consider that the beam has defracted to the about the size of the cockpit, or it would just miss his eyes completely. It sounds like he shone something a little more heavy duty. A year dressing up like a girl for the other prisoners might straighten him out, so to speak!

I suspect this story is authority hype in that a cop chopper was targeted after the kllm flight. I doubt a laser can be seen in daytime and if pointed at night, they have to be right on top of the perp to know its position and have ground units ready to jump when the location is pin pointed.

Further, to target a pilot in daytime takes a laser scope rifle with a high power laser in the line of sight. So a guy standing off the flight path may not be able to direct a laser shot to the eye and blind the pilot.

This sounds to convenient and made just for news.

Otherwise, maybe, I dunno, the kid was shining the laser up into the air, the pilot seen it and became excited as the kid flashed the flight and the cops in the chopper, later see the kid shining the laser into the night sky and make it a case of terrorist action. You know now, a kid cannot even make a hand gun gesture to a friend by pointing his finger and closing his thumb down.

No hype peepers. I live in Cleveland. First two planes reported hits with a green industrial laser. Then Metro Lifeflight chopper. Then when the cop chopper were chasing the two men and a woman in a white auto the passenger reached out the window and hit it too. Must have been a slow night. Meth and marijuana was also found in the vehicle.

I don't know the approach angles at the airport this happened. but do know the airport here is fenced off and no can get near the runways. The thing is, there is a fly over the highway to a runway approach but to flash a laser into the cockpit is almost impossible since the craft angle is above the approachs angle to flash a laser into the cockpit. The jets come in with the nose up and I think it to be a stretch to see a kllm pilot in that position.

what kind of moron has nothing better to do than this?
how boring can be his day? not even go for a beer, joint, girls, ps3, football, blah, blah
few months of prison would be ok for this idiot.

or just kick his ass by pilot and co-p


[edit on 19-8-2008 by Dinamo]