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Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon

Post Number: 5530
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 70.236.198.22
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 12:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

So, I was browsing my usual news sources...and stumbled upon this Yahoo-linked news article.

Wondering why we haven't heard much about this in the media?!

I keep hearing about this phenomenon, and wonder if anyone has ever tried to aim a laser pointer at a stationary spot a half-mile away, let alone one moving hundreds of miles per hour buffeted by winds.

Don't see how anyone without a high-speed gimbal mount radar-aimed laser pointer is going to do much bad...you've got to really look at these things to do damage, although a glimpse can be stunning.
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Metrodetguy
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Username: Metrodetguy

Post Number: 2299
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 70.237.10.126
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 5:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gannon, what are you talking about? This story has been covered by every station and both dailies for the past two days. Furthermore, it also happend several weeks/a couple of months ago and was covered then as well.

I think the pilots that have reported these incidents know a lot more about it than you.
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Rustic
Member
Username: Rustic

Post Number: 2058
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 130.132.177.245
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 5:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

next time it snows at night take your laser pointer out and shine it down the block. it is magical as the flakes randomly reflect the beam as they pass through.
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Jimaz
Member
Username: Jimaz

Post Number: 140
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 68.2.191.57
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 6:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Rustic: Oooh! That sounds like fun. Thanks!

(Poor li'l blinded snowflakes. lol)
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Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon

Post Number: 5531
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 68.41.96.145
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 6:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Metro,

Didn't see it before my post, obviously! I didn't see it on any on-line source nor hear about it on NPR...so if TV beat them all to it, good for them.


Whatever the pilots know, there has to be more to this story.

It cannot be that easy to track a plane while it is landing with a laser pointer...the angle you'd have to hit those cockpit windows is pretty shallow...but coming from the ground with those approaching speeds it would have to be one helluva piece of work to keep a pilot painted for any length of time.

It's not like they're being tracked for a laser-guided missile...they can look away from the momentary flashing light...although at some distances it would not be such a narrow beam of light, depending on the quality of optics.

Time when it is the biggest danger is IF they are sitting near the landing strip where these pilots have to stare while guiding the plane down...they have much less time to look away.
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Metrodetguy
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Username: Metrodetguy

Post Number: 2300
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 70.237.163.17
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 7:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Again Gannon, the pilots know more about how harmful this tactic is than you. It's nowhere near as easy to simply "looking away". Agreed there has to be more to the story...than random isolated incidents. Furthermore, these types of incidents have happend at several airports. Probably a combination of something sinister as well as copy cats.

Online sources that carried this story include the News, Free Press, tv station websites, Drudge, Yahoo News, among other no doubt.
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Jimaz
Member
Username: Jimaz

Post Number: 143
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 68.2.191.57
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 7:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

All I know about it is from astronomy. Your eyes take at least 15 minutes to get adjusted well to the dark. After that all it takes is one flash, no matter how brief, and you're night blinded again for another 15 minutes. Frustrating.

Also, I recall from a few years ago news stories of deliberate attempts to blind pilots with lasers (no doubt specially designed for the task). Google finds many articles on this subject.
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Rustic
Member
Username: Rustic

Post Number: 2061
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.163.181.81
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 8:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

jimaz, the whos down in whoville won't know what hit 'em ...
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Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft

Post Number: 774
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 70.228.1.172
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 8:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gannon, DUH, the laser-pointing story was in BOTH newspapers.
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Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon

Post Number: 5533
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 68.41.96.145
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 12:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Pffft,

No duh...the laser-pointing story just got front page billing today...kiss my ass. When I caught the story on Yahoo, it was nowhere to be found in our local press outside Local 4.


I STILL think there is MUCH more to this then they're saying...anyone tracking a plane with a laser pointer has the damn thing on a sturdy tripod and a telescope.

They're not just aiming randomly at planes and getting these hits from a mile or so away. Can't even see what you're hitting at that distance without a scope.

The green ones reported on the approach seem the most likely to be devious...but the random red ones are not in the same league.

Big energy difference between the two, longer distances and narrower spot with green.

Green would cause the greatest optic disturbance, too. It would take much longer to re-adjust to the shock of bright green at night.

But the reports of the pilot who had burned retina...and three to four days of bad vision...he got hit with a weapon.

Ain't no way he had that much damage from a key-fob laser pointer...those are just for annoying people at the theater.
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Rustic
Member
Username: Rustic

Post Number: 2063
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 130.132.177.245
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 12:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hank Scorpio?
yeah yeah I know he is holding a flame thrower, but he DID have a big-assed laser in the episode
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Livernoisyard
Member
Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 71
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 12:55 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Drudge used it a bit late in the game - today (Thursday). Paul Harvey used it yesterday morning - its first instance for me.
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Jimaz
Member
Username: Jimaz

Post Number: 146
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 68.2.191.57
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 12:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Gannon:
Green would cause the greatest optic disturbance, too. It would take much longer to re-adjust to the shock of bright green at night.



I'm certain that's correct.
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Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon

Post Number: 5534
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 70.236.198.22
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 2:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It just dawned on me...the worst thing so far about these laser episodes is the mere distraction from the usual UNusual nature of a plane landing.


The pilots take some time to spot the two locations on the ground then tag them to landmarks and note them...when they should be taking the plane off auto-pilot and conjuring up that intoxicatingly calm voice for announcing arrival, right?!

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