Fox: Commercial Pilots 'attacked' with laser

Fox News | Greta Van Susteren

[abner]

Daly would probably beg to differ with you. I think he may be a FReeper. I think he also wrote a book about it. :-)

[norton]

"...During the cold war, laser weapons were designed to ruin the optics in weapon systems and the lens in the human eye. If the pilot couldn't see, he'd crash."

Not quite true.
Sov's spent a lot of effort on optics and lasers. Not just to 'ruin optics' but to trick them.

Problem with a laser is that it is just as hard to direct as a bullet is and takes a LOT more power to employ.

[Quix]

Probably not

if the

REPTOIDS are driving.

[abner]

Somehow UFO's seem kinda "girly" now, don't they??

You got a point there. :-0

[FairOpinion]

Apparently even low power lasers, as those used as laser pointers can cause problems.

"CASE REPORTS. From January
1996 to July 1999, the FAA’s Western-Pacific Region identified more than 150 incidents in which low-flying
aircraft were illuminated by lasers. Laser pointers were used in the majority of these incidents, and there were
several occurrences of visual impairment to the pilot. Representative examples of documented reports are
presented that involved the illumination of civilian flight crewmembers by these hand-held devices.
CONCLUSIONS. Laser pointers have caused ocular injury and may compromise aviation safety when used
to illuminate aircraft in critical phases of flight."


http://www.hf.faa.gov/docs/508/docs/cami/0107.pdf

[Robe]

It wasn't a P-3 pilot , it was a observer on a Coast Guard Chopper that was directed to inspect a Soviet cargo ship ( a known spy ship) entering Pudget Sound shortly after the arrival of a US Boomer.
The Observer suffered burns to his eyes from a laser directed at him when he was photographing the ship.
Subsequent inspection of the ship (after many days of diplomatic haggling) was twarthed by the crew refusing to open spaces and voids that were newly welded shut.
The Clinton Admin let it slide..
The US Observer has retired from the service with permanent eye damage.
What we need to know here is .... Who , what ,where ,how ... was the A/c airborne? was it at cruse? Approach?

[ableChair]

Apparently. All I know is the flight was enroute to Salt Lake City.

[bonfire]

LOL!

[joesnuffy]

A high intensity laser could burn a hole in eyeball....

First hand the beer over to your friend...

Next take any of the first crop of laser sighting devices and point it at your eye in a mirror...

You will be in pain...and probably fall into the bathtub if you arent carefull and did this in the bathroom mirror

Your friend will probably say something like "Whoa!...that was AWESOME"

Now imagine a really big laser hitting you in the eye....and you are a pilot...

The military uses goggles designed for protection against such lasers as well as rifle scopes that will protect the user from being 'lased' will sighting...

[ableChair]

Ahh, well, looks like it made it into the English language! My dictionary is 1994, so it must be a recent addition. Thanks for the info.

[bitt]

'The newspaper said the incident, which occurred at midday, was described in a "classified Pentagon report."

The report said the Russian ship was spying on a U.S. nuclear submarine in waters off Washington state when a "laser beam" was "fired" at a Canadian helicopter, injuring the pilot and a U.S. Navy officer on board taking pictures, the paper said.

Cohn was ineffective, as usual. 'Nothing to see, (pardon the pun), move on".....

[terilyn]

It was Bill Gertz. He was on with Greta and he reported this.

[ableChair]

Not sure how to do that. I'll try, though. Thanks.

[abner]

Thanks for the more accurate info.

[Weirdad]

Don't you like acronyms that are made into nouns that are made into verbs?

Yes, when it makes sense. It's All-American (and in a way, All-English), as opposed to France where they have a government-controlled language and levy fines if official communications stray from the officially condoned "pure" French language.

If doublespeak is ever imposed globally it won't make much headway in the USA!

[Kirkwood]

Can't cause damage to the pilot's eyes. The beam has to enter the pupil of the eye, so that means the pilot has to be looking at the source. The distance from the plane is likely miles and so the light is attenuated by atmospheric effects and the square of the distance from the source, plus it is affected by reflection according to Lambert's law (cosine law) on striking the window. In addition, blinding lasers are going to be either UV or IR and therefore invisible to the pilot. The pilot is behind UV and IR absorbing cockpit windows. If anything did happen, it was a simply a flash that temporarily saturated the photoreceptors of the eye (like a bright camera flash). Any affect on vision will be temporary.

[FairOpinion]

Here is another incident:

http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/ccw/news/bosnia981104_laser.html

Nov. 4, 1998

Lasers Burn U.S. Pilots’ Eyes

Two American helicopter pilots flying peacekeeping missions over Bosnia have had their eyes burned after lasers were aimed at them from the ground.

[hispanarepublicana]

Admin: This thread's author would like a headline change to reflect gravity (and scariness) of this story.

[bitt]

thanks -

let's direct it towards Fallujah.

[ASA Vet]

Don't you like acronyms that are made into nouns that are made into verbs?

Maybe it fubar'd you but I radared it's meaning right away.