Keep this FBI video in mind next time you’re tempted to use that diabolical wicked laser of yours. Police can track your air-menacing arse from the sky — provided you haven’t blinded them yet, of course.
It happens very quickly. The chopper pilots get the equivalent of a torch to the face from the tiny presentation laser on the ground, and call in for help. I can only imagine what the effect would have been from some of the more, ahem, shockingly powerful lasers available. Luckily, the cops have infrared eyes in the sky, and can follow the green point in the distance to a real dude on the ground. Is he wearing a bathrobe? It’s hard to tell. Soon enough, he’s swarmed by cops and arrested. All in good fun, right? Nope — risking the lives of a pilot, whether it’s an airliner or little chopper, is a felony. Photon jerks like this risk up to 20 years in prison and a $US250,000 fine. And you probably don’t want to have to answer the So, what are you in for? question after getting thrown for laser mischief. [The Atlantic]
jeremy
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 10:59 AMI think just about everything in the US is a felony now, right? Only country in the WORLD where minors are jailed until they die (Even china and iran don’t do that). Only advanced country with death penalties. It’s a felony if you blink wrong at the INS or TSA, or sass a cop (especially if you belong to a minority). Police state of the free, ye-har. Oh except possession of powerful firearms, that is just fine. If the dude had been waving a fireram at the chopper he would have been let off with a smack on the wrist :-)
Andre Wolokita
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 11:38 AMIf he was pointing a gun they wouldn’t have seen it so of course he wouldn’t have been caught let alone charged. People like this deserve to be punished, it’s a pretty idiotic and dangerous thing to do, pointing a laser at an aircraft, and those who plead ignorance are just plain lying.
RB
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 11:47 AMsimply waving the gun at the chopper would have been the same as just waving the laser pointer at the chopper… as long as you don’t ‘activate’ either, they probably wouldn’t notice/care.
the second you pull the trigger on either, I would assume the gun would be seen as a _lot_ more illegal then the laser tho…
Drew
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 11:56 AMBut he did ‘activate’ the laser. I didn’t know that there were many levels of legality, so are something just a little bit illegal while others are moderately to very illegal?
RB
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 12:06 PMWas in response to jeremy’s comment about waving a gun at the chopper wasn’t really comparing apples to apples. It would have been a different story if he’d fired a gun at the chopper rather than just point one at it.
Levels of legality was probably a bad way of putting it… Perhaps, levels of police response? I doubt they would have been as calm about it if the guy was squeezing off rounds into the air (not the mention the chopper pilot would have been sh*tting bricks)
Christian
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 12:49 PMIn China or Iran they don’t even bother Jailing, you are correct, they just kill you instead.
No questions, BANG….gone!
Duzz
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 9:46 PMChina says they doesn’t execute minors, I think amnesty agrees with me on this.
Iran you are an adult from the age of 16 (as with many islamic countries). I can’t comment on that exactly.
Doesn’t stop either of them killing you for a crime you committed as a minor, but US does that as well.
Drew
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 11:36 AMJeremy you’re a knob. Pointing high power lasers are aircraft is down right dangerous and you’ll find its probably against the law in many countries.
In Australia laser pointers one milliwatt need a special permit.
Mike
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 1:41 PM*lasers above one milliwatt
mike
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 12:44 PMJudging by that comment you sound like the kind of person do to something this stupid.
Go to youtube and look at videos of pilots getting blinded. Here’s one for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI7Qq1mYQlI
The problem with lasers is they are unregulated and any stupid 15 year old can buy one. It’s nothing like a powerful firearm.
Also there is abosulutly no practical purpouse for a hi power laser. You can buy 1Watt blue lasers in the US now. Even a reflection can blind someone 1km away.
Words can’t express how stupid and nieve your comment is
Koppenflak
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 1:05 PMDo some hard reading, mate, if you think that’s what a laser looks like inside a cockpit from that kind of distance, you’re the one that is naive.
My father has worked in airlines for 35 years, I myself about 5 years.
There is absolutely nothing in your link to support claims of pilots being ‘blinded’ by a laser.
Can you look at the sun for half a second without making yourself permanently blind? I guarantee you that thing kicks out far more photons than your 1 watt death ray – and if you mean to purport that someone can keep a laser trained with such stillness as to expose someone’s eye for any length of time greater than a fraction of a second, you’re even more deluded than “RussiaToday” posting that youtube video.
Cripes.
mike
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 1:43 PMthere is a big difference between “blinded” and “permanently blind”
Carlos.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 3:53 PMActually blinded means just that. Blinded.
No longer able to see.
You are Blind.
You have been blinded.
I think you’re thinking of dazzled perhaps?
Andrew
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 4:38 PM“My father has worked in airlines for 35 years, I myself about 5 years.”
What relevance does this have? were people walking around with these lasers for the last 35 years?… This is very much a recent trend due to technological improvements and lower costs. I’m also presuming since you say you “worked in airlines” rather than saying saying you are a pilot means you’ve not experienced this either.
A simple google search would suggest this is a major problem:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=laser+pointed+at+airplane&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a#q=laser+pointed+at+airplane&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=oxT&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=nws&ei=kb6CTvL2MeXhmAWtwuk8&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=5&ved=0CA4Q_AUoBA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=9642b4f50b3beeed&biw=1366&bih=658
Also My father has been in IT for over 40 years and I have been for most of my life. This hereby qualifies me to say sorry for the big-ass link above.
Luke
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 12:48 PMWhat a retard… he probably thought he was pointing it at a news or medical chopper (either one is bad) but was really pointing it at a police chopper with state of the art technology.
It looks like infrared camera cancels out the laser light.
Last thought, did it really need 10 or so cops to take someone in who is shining a laser, i suppose he could have a gun on him and best to be safe then sorry. Another retard of the street.
Very last thought, its idiots like these who spoil the fun for the rest of the population who actually do the right thing.
Mike
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 1:46 PM“It looks like the infrared camera cancels out the laser light”
You need to lookup light spectrums and what they are lol.
Koppenflak
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 12:55 PMThere was an article that circulated in the Qantas pilot’s association newsletter that basically debunked this ‘laser hype’
It’s about distance and power.
The reality of it is that an aircraft flies so far from the laser, and airport perimeters are so long, that the diffraction you will get from any low power laser (even those in the 1 or 2 watt range) combined with general scatter of an imprecisely focused beam will have no impact on the flight crew.
Fun experiment: go to your local football field, and stand at one end. Shine your green ‘death ray’ to the other end on something highly visible, like a wall, and get your friend to observe.
You will find that the spot from your beam probably has a diameter of a several meters.
You can’t cause damage with that amount of diffusion.
(In the interest of fairness… And having said this in the nanny states we live in being ruled by fear-mongering an public ignorance, I do not recommend shining lasers at aircraft, because the law is not a shade of grey, and cops will still bust your ass no matter how stupid the law.)
Mike
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 1:57 PMRight on most points, except for the several meters of diffused light bit.
Back a couple years when they were still legal, I got quite a few in from China ranging from 1-100mW. Even over a football field, focal point for most (especially the 5mW ones) had only spread to a cm or two.
That said, you’re correct in that the main danger isn’t blinding the pilots, but more in the sudden distraction it can cause.
Steve
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 8:06 PMThesearen’t the little laser pointers you get at tobacconists. These are extremely high powered devices the size of batons that typically sell for upwards of $300 USD.
I’ve seen these things in action (a friend has one), pointing across Sydney CBD and still have a tiny dot on a building hundreds of meters away.
stefan
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 10:01 PMI think that its about reprimanding someone for doing the wrong thing basically as an example.
Another thought, it could be used by criminals to distract the chopper if one of their crim mates is on the run?
Drew
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 1:20 PMI diameter of several meters? You’ve never had a laser pointer as a kid I take it.
Koppenflak
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 1:27 PMI’ve had several. Fact remains the beam does not stay the diameter of a pinhead. It expands over distance – Diffusion.
I grant you, you might be able to cause some strife if you were several yards away from the aircraft, but most urban areas have minimum altitude restrictions of at least a thousand feet unless you’re on a landing approach.
So yes, a laser beam will have a diameter of several meters over great distances – and the laws even recognise that.
Just This Guy ...
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 3:45 PMOne question comes to mind after all these comments about how dangerous this activity is.
Has there been even one reported / verified incident of an aircraft accident as a direct result of a laser pointer being pointed at the aircraft?
For what it’s worth, I think you’re nuts if you point a laser pointer at any kind of vehicle, but I really do think the whole “danger” thing has been just a wee tad over-exagerated. Even watching that video, it’s hard to see how a semi-competent pilot could have any real difficulties. it wouldn’t be fun, but I hardly think any planes are going to drop out of the sky because of a few brief flashes.
andrew
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 1:38 AMI’m sorry but look at the video again and explain to me how the laser is several meters in diameter. It still looks pretty focused when it hits the camera. Unless you want to argue that the camera lens and sensor are the size of an 18 wheeler?
You cant argue with the effect of the beam on the camera!
Franz
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 5:18 PMIt’s not a laser, it’s a little light bulb that blinks.
Mitch Johnson
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 7:13 PMWhy aren’t searchlights banned and outlawed?
Those things put out a lot more light than a tiny laser and have a lot more power behind them.
2 AA batteries vs a truck-mounted light? Those things could seriously distract a pilot if they were pointed at a plane, and yet those are deployed all over cities and pointed at the sky, and rotate around all over the place.
Why is that legal, and a tiny laser pointer results in 10 cops at your door?
Steve
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 8:07 PMAn un-focused light ‘beam’ will diffuse and for helicopters and planes up in the air, it’s negligible and nothing more than light pollution. If you point a focused beam at a pilot’s face, it’s a big difference.
Mitch Johnson
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 4:54 AMI can never reliably target something across my living room with one of those things, how am I supposed to point this thing into a moving cockpit, from thousands of feet away, into a person’s eye, and have it end up being anything more than “negligible light pollution”?
Even if I were to point something at an airplane cockpit, the odds that I’d even hit a guy’s eye are incredibly low, and the amount of time it would spend on his eye would be a fraction of a millisecond.
It seems that the cops should be raiding the planetarium; their Laser Floyd show got me in the eye TWICE last year. I was completely un-scarred for life, and absolutely able to drive home unassisted! It was horrible!
stefan
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 9:55 PM“we’re getting hit by a green laser”
“ok roger that bravo two actual, green light to engage”
“understood, light em up with some 20mm”
Ive been playing too much video games XD.
Anonymous
Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 8:43 AMI think this deserves a shot in The Simpson’s show. Officer takes the laser points back to the chopper with the words “I got it, I got it”
P.S. LOL @ big-ass link above.