Laser injures Delta pilot's eye

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | Sept 29, 2004

[traumer]

A pilot flying a Delta Air Lines jet was injured by a laser that illuminated the cockpit of the aircraft as it approached Salt Lake City International Airport last week, U.S. officials said.

The plane's two pilots reported that the Boeing 737 had been five miles from the airport when they saw a laser beam inside the cockpit, said officials familiar with government reports of the Sept. 22 incident. The flight, which originated in Dallas, landed without further incident at about 9:30 p.m. local time.

A short while later, however, the first officer felt a stinging sensation in one eye. A doctor who examined the pilot determined that he had suffered a burned retina from exposure to a laser device, the officials said.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokeswoman Yolanda Clark confirmed the incident, but declined to provide details.

[traumer]

What the heck was it ?

[Leo Carpathian]

$OROS$ using laser pointer trying to show that sky is the limit for his contributions to defeat W?

[daybreakcoming]

At first glance this looked like a tin foil hat alert but obviously there is something to this. Dating back to the 90s? Bush will be blamed anyway.

[JETDRVR]

SLC???
If it would have been Vegas or ACY probable cause would be the Casino laser light shows.

[traumer]

No casinos in Utah...

[mc5cents]

Wow sounds like something out of a Tom Clancy novel. In fact he had a plane brought down by a laser in, I think, it was Debt of Honor.

[CholeraJoe]

This doesn't pass the sniff test. Target designator lasers powerful enough to burn the retina are ordinarily invisible to the naked eye. Laser rangefinders are visible but not powerful enough to cause damage.

[stuartcr]

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

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

Could one of the aircrafts instruments have an internal laser? If so could it be that the laser was jared loose and pointing towards the pilot through a crack?

[EternalHope]

Lasers designed to damage a pilot's eyes have been developed as weapons. Military pilots have protective gear to help defend against this.

In this case, the pilot was hit by a laser capable of damaging his eyes, while coming in for a landing (the most dangerous time in a flight). This was not an accident.

[Calpernia]

More on that laser incident that was posted last night.

[JETDRVR]

Im aware of that !

[MizSterious]

FYI

[Just mythoughts]

bookmarked

[JCEccles]

Interesting read. Apparently, even a simple laser pointer can cause serious problems if shined into the cockpit of an aircraft flying at low level. Here's an image from the study you linked:

[JohnG45]

The most dangerous time in flight is takeoff not landing.

In takeoff the plane is under high power, the nose is up, it is not at cruise speed and it is at low altitude. There is no room for error.

[Frank_Discussion]

I'm betting a laser kit from Edmund Scientific could be used to cause this damage, if somehow weaponized, i.e. add a point-n-shoot stock or mount of some kind. Even an office laser pointer can be harmful to the eye, though it takes a while.

What puzzles me is the ability of somebody to hit the target. Not impossible, but it would require no small amount of skill and ingenuity.

[stuartcr]

I can't see my keyboar

[Frank_Discussion]

My eyees art fime, what'g yout prblwm?

[So Cal Rocket]

A similar incident happened in Huntington Beach a few months back. One night, someone pointed a powerful laser at a police helicopter, hitting the pilot in the eye. The pilot, with assistance from his spotter, had to land the helicopter on the beach (his vision was impaired and he didn't want to risk landing at the police station where there were lots of people around).

http://www.hbpd.org/pdf/pr_5-31-04.pdf