Posted on 07/26/2015 12:44:12 AM PDT by lee martell
The safety of pilots, crew members and passengers has been put at risk repeatedly by people shining laser beams into the cockpit. I don't know very much at all about aviation, probably less than the average person. I do know that I have always been impressed by the Blue Angels as they fly in formation during their annual visit to San Francisco. Considering how well known, and documented this hazard is, and how vulnerable the pilots are, I'm surprised there has been no resolution to the problem. We may as well face it, there will always be goofballs, anarchists, and terrorist supporters who will continue to aim their bright green beams into the nearest plane. There are reports of people doing it after a few drinks, because they thought it 'would be fun'. Lets accept that those with the laser will continue using them as long as such lights are easily available.
So with that understanding, I'm surprised there has been no method devised to lessen the impact of these beams without compromising the transparency of the windows. Has anyone heard of any such glass that a commercial aircraft could use that would not allow the full effect of laser light to enter the plane's interior? Is this a problem that is taken seriously and being worked on?
By beating the Sh*t out of punks with laser pointers.
I have one pair of red anti-laser overlay glasses and one pair of blue in my console.
I’ve been a pilot since 1986.
You can put them one when below 2,500 feet or you can put a laser detector in your cockpit if you want to wait for a warning to don them.
Why would pilots be pointed up on the ground?
You have to find and prosecute them first. Maybe there is a question on where the money should come from in order to investigate, prosecute and send to trial. The Red Tape of bureaucracy can become a tangled up Gordian Knot in no time.
Would it be possible to have a device that quickly and automatically identifies and immediately reports to police the time-stamped location of a laser attack?
So that’s a very simple, cost effect method to deal with this problem. Maybe the newer pilots are never trained to do this. Some pilots may benefit by having a stewardess go through all the pantomime of warnings, precaution and protcol before a flight. Different warning than the passengers, of course.
And yet, there seems to be no limit on the amount of cash available to pay DHS employees to feel-up you or your wife and kids' junk to provide absolutely zero salutary effect on airline safety.
To check the wheels are fully retracted, silly
Pointing them up from the ground is the best way to protect them from laser beams which are frequently pointed up in the same direction.
It's also the best angle of attack for engaging Alien Planet Killers bent on destroying the Earth.
For military aircraft, solutions are available. A laser makes a very nice beacon, and any number of devices can be programmed to follow the beam back and explode.
For civilian purposes this is not a good option, but for commercial aircraft a detector/ranger which would pinpoint the GPS location of the source would be expensive, but effective in finding and sentencing the offenders.
Develop technology that will pinpoint the laser source then shine a laser back at them bright enough to stun and blind them so that they can’t see for hours. Then dispatch units to that area to pickup the terrorist. Then beat the living crap out of him.
Other than an annoyance, has it ever been a problem? You hear about it from time to time. That’s it...
You might be slightly more aware of the issue if you were a passenger on a flight where the crew was attacked by an sick idiot with a laser light. Then you might have a very short period of time to assess the problem before you were killed.
Decent narrow band blocking filter on windows
It’s actually pretty simple and I’m quite surprised they haven’t implemented this already.
All you have to do is use polarized glass.
Lasers are intense because they are highly polarized. If you have a single polarized layer of glass within the windshield, the laser would have to held at the precise angle of polarization to pass through. Would not be easy to do.
If it’s still a problem, you can use two layers, with polarization at right angles. This should also account for lasers with partial polarization.
Polarized films in sunglasses are dark, but the darkness is not required for polarization. I remember my physics lab using absolutely clear polarized lenses that stopped laser light. The laser only passes through if you orient it in the appropriate position.
Maybe they can get some of them prism glasses Hillary uses. :0)
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