UPDATE: Laser Injures Delta Pilot in Flight

I dis hear mention that they have coordinating scheduling with many of the Las Vegas casinos because of problems with the laser light shows and aircraft, but there was no report of such shows over Salt Lak during the flight as of yet.

As far as speed and accuracy to aim through a cockpit window, I don't believe it is an impossible thing to accomplish. The lasers the US military has been testing shoot mortars and missles from the air.

Do I believe its terrorists trying to bring down a plane? Hmm I couldn't say that it wasn't. It may have been our own military performing testing or running drills on our civilian airliners, it wouldn't be the first time.

Here is an excerp from todays news regarding the Laser hitting the Delta Pilot's eyes and burning his retina. Currently the FBI, TSA, and Joint terrorism Task force are investigating.
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deseretnews.com...
Lasers are readily available to consumers for a variety of purposes, from simple low-powered penlight type pointers used in business presentations to higher-powered devices used for medical, construction or entertainment purposes such as light shows.
Astronomy buffs use lasers when star gazing because the long reach of the beams makes it easier for the human eye to identify features in the night sky, said Ken Warner, a software engineer who is a member of the Salt Lake Astrological Society.
Those lasers are typically red or green. The green models are the brighter and more powerful of the two, with a potential beam reach of up to 25,000 feet, Warner said.
The laser beam seen by the pilots last week was green, officials said.
"One could potentially reach (airline) altitude," Warner said.
Scientific research work is also being done in Utah with the help of high-powered lasers, Utah State University professor Vincent Wickwar said. For nearly a dozen years at USU, a high-powered beam has been measuring the atmospheric temperatures above the university's Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences. A second laser is atop the Space Dynamics Lab at the school, and Wickwar said lasers are in use at the University of Utah and at the Dugway Proving Ground. Wickwar's laser has a vertical-only reach of about 60 miles and wasn't in use when the Delta incident occurred.
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Doesnt sound far fetched in the slightest that terrorists would use lazer technology to try and bring down civillian aircraft,hell-theyd use there own grandmothers if they thought theyd get a result.
As a pilot myself (x-air,microlight) there are crucial points in take off and landing procedures where focus and concentration are paramount,a distraction of any kind could have fatal consequences in an extreme circumstance,especially if vision was impaired but commercial aircraft are automated on take off and landing so there would be little,if no risk of an accident due to pilot blindness or an error caused by a lazer-doesnt mean that they wont develop something can completley blind a cockpit crew though?
Im going to post a new topic on a weapon(?) that was used years ago to fix horse racing-have a look and tell me what you think.

One of the pieces in the story that make it appear to be more of an intentional attack is that it happened during landing. It did not occur from an astronomer looking for stars. The person would have had to been at a specific position in order to do that. I believe that it was either some whacko playing with his laser, or a terrorist. I do not believe at this point that it was the military performing one of their own tests, though it wouldn't be the first time.

VERY STRANGE

aolsvc.news.aol.com...

If the pilot saw a short single flash of green light, then it was a Q-switched yag laser. A yag laser is IR but when the beams peak power is enhanced with a Q-switch it doubles the "frequency of light" from 1064nm(IR) to 532nm (green). If the co-pilot saw a green light on the control panel and did not get blinded, then it was either an argon laser, doubled yag or diode laser.

It wasn't a ruby laser which has a blood red coloured beam or a doubled blue-UV beam and it wasn't a CO2 laser (10,000nm or so) as IR with a wave-lenght that long can't get through glass or quartz at all.


I don't want to give any one any ideas but it would be alot more easy to use a CO2 laser for terror, to shatter glass on a high rise during rush hour (falling glass) from a mile or two away using a 50Watt CO2.

A simple blinding laser can be run off of 4 D cells (mini Nd:yag range finder with Q-switch), a laser that can start fires can run off of 4-8 D cells (3Watt laser diode) and a small 2-3KW gas 2stroke generator could be portable and able to run a 50Watt CO2 (200-300Lb. including laser).

Terrorists would want to make the plane go down in the city if anything.

A friend of mine said there was an incident in Germany when an Abrams gunner lazed a civilian car, blinding the driver. It was anecdote from training class about how dangerous the laser rangefinder is, so maybe it was fiction, but maybe not.

The report by pilots was of a green laser. Green lasers are currently used by astronomers and the range on the green laser could easily reach the airplane. It really could not be that difficult to aim on a slowly descending aircraft through a scope.

Also, a green laser pointer is not more powerful then a red one even if it looks brighter. 20mW green laser pointers are $200 or more and can blind, but a 5mW green pointer is just as "blinding" as a 5mW red one.

[edit on 2-10-2004 by XL5]

I don't think that the green laser the piolots identified was in pulses because they were able to see it in the cockpit according to the article. Thats not definite that it wasn't in pulses, but just seems to indicate that it was easy for them to see it.

As XL5 pointed out the 5 mw is the max allowed by the FDA for sale without a special license. The Jasper is a green 5 milli-watts.

"The human eye interprets the color green to be three times brighter than red. So if you had a 5mw red laser beam next to a 5mw green laser beam, the green beam would appear 50 times brighter. "







[edit on 10/2/2004 by infinite8]

Just saw an update on the news tonight that there have been 6 reports in the last 4 months of lasers being aimed at the eyes of pilots while in flight. It has also been added to the terror watch list and was recently discussed by Powell. Looks like this first incident may have been something afterall.

This is just a small thought based on common fact.
With all current laser technologies used today coupled with satellite and aircraft tracking systems used by the FAA, what are the chances our government is "cutting it's teeth" on (practice) laser targeting in-flight commercial aircraft from space? It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a geometry scholar to figure out how much easier it would be to target typical cockpit glass from space, rather than from the ground. I'd be willing to bet it's our own government responsible for these occurrences (operational tests). They'll never admit it. This has all the markings of Top Secret "Black Ops."

Naw, our government would never test anything on innocent Americans.

Honestly I think blinding a pilot is pointless since most of them can fly the jets with their eyes closed. The modern jets can pretty much land themselves. Actually I think they can. I don't think its traditional terrorists doing this but rather lowlife copycats who get dumb ideas planted in their head by the media. This is an ineffective way to try and take a jet down. You'd have better luck tossing bird seed in the flight path.

There have now been seven instances of lasers shown into cockpits just since Christmas...and the feds are getting nervous about it.

www.iht.com...

Uh, I have a problem with this assertion presented as a foregone proven conclusion. Please let's discriminate between--as well as label--"judgments" versus "data" while stating your argument that some people (offended by chemtrails) may want to shoot down airplanes with lasers.

No one has proven that chemtrails are a hoax, specifically since Congress legislated against them (while permitting their use). See complete text of H.R. 2977 on radarmatrix.com

Can we please just be clear what's data and what's an opinion.

As for lasers in cockpits, perhaps one solution would be reflective windshields on airplanes--one way glass?

[edit on 31-12-2004 by defrag99]

Thanks for adding that link Valhall, I think there should be a reason for concern.

Though it may be possible to land a plane without eyes, it sure isnt as safe as a pilot operating 100%.

Here is a site to buy modified green lasers..wickedlasers.com...
Normal red lasers bought a local stores are 5mw at the above site you can buy up to 60mw lasers.

Australia: Green lasers aimed at landing aircraft.

Link