Posted on 09/28/2004 8:12:49 PM PDT by ableChair
Greta Van Susteren reported that a Delta pilot enroute to Salt Lake City was lazed in the cockpit this last Wednesday. Only country I know that has that hardware (for lazing bomber pilots) was the Soviet Union. Pilot reportedly required medical treatment and this was not a minor injury (weak laser) wound. More will come out to tomorrow as this story hits the print press.
And these small portable deviced out of the USSR can easily have been sold to Islamic terrorists.
Apologies for terminology. 'Laze' is used in the military to refer to the energizing of a laser; i.e. the verb form of laser.
From a mountain, higher skyscraper or when the plane banked?
Wouldn't the lower part of the nose of the plane limit line of sight to the eyes of the pilots mostly buried around non-light transmitting materials?
I'd think that the angle of the windshields would pose a slight distorting problem, too.
Seems to me the laser would have to be more potent than the average available at Radio Shack???
Stretching my awareness here.
Thanks for your knowledgeable inputs.
It is typically done from other aircraft or spacecraft. It would not originate from within the target aircraft.
Yes, Debt of Honor, I believe.
It can come from the ground, if the angle is right.
I'm flying in about 6 hours. Lets hope this is an isolated incident...
A pilot inside a commercial jet doesn't even have a forward view during straight and level flight. Maybe out the side window, but nothing but cockpit panel out the front. In order to effectively laze into the cockpit, you'd have to be in a position above the airplane.
Extremely unlikely a laser beam would have caused any kind of damage to the pilot's eye for many, many reasons. Most likely the beam lit up the cockpit ceiling for a fraction of a second and the flash startled the pilot.
Serious stuff.
The cockpit of the plane was hit with a laser beam and the pilot was temporarily blinded.
I know there are some FR folks that are experts on such things, wish they would chime in if possible, given security levels etc.
The word is slang to begin with, so neither spelling is 'correct'. The military uses the term to turn the word 'laser' into a verb.
Ping for myself
This happened last week and is "being investigated", according to Gertz.
It happened back in 97 or 98. Commander Daly I believe. He even saw the plane that did it to him IIRC. I think he has a permanent disability.
He was lazy.
And this supposedly happened here in the U.S.???
There was an array manufactured by the Russians in the 1980s. As I remember, it was towed behind a truck. Interspersed throughout the laser array, were VERY bright lights that would flash briefly....long enough to get the pilot's attention....at which point the lasers would fire and damage the pilot's eyes.
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