Oregon Ping
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Posted on 01/05/2005 9:12:57 AM PST by AmericanMade1776
NEWARK, N.J. -- A man charged with temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot of an airplane with a laser beam may have purchased the laser in Oregon.
The suspect claims he was simply using the device to look at stars with his 7-year-old daughter.
Federal authorities on Tuesday used the Patriot Act to charge David Banach, 38, with interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. He is the first person arrested after a recent rash of reports around the nation of lasers being beamed at airplanes
(Excerpt) Read more at kgw.com ...
Last month, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department sent a memo to law enforcement agencies saying there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons. But federal officials have said there is no evidence any the current incidents were part of a terrorist plot.
I did not know that any lasers that powerful were on the market and able to be purchase by anyone.
Lasers and laser sights will be the next target of the contraband police. I don't understand how a laser beamed from the ground could enter a cockpit of an aircraft at an angle that could threaten a pilot. It seems like a lot of sensational overkill by our appointed protectorate.
"I did not know that any lasers that powerful were on the market and able to be purchase by anyone.
"
Oh, that and more. Google "industrial lasers." Watch for regulations that will seriously hurt legitimate users of lasers, including these green diode-pumped lasers, which have many legitimate uses.
Oregon Ping
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On another thread, they said they had lenses that would prevent lasers from doing harm--why not insist on those, instead of limiting the sales of lasers?
Put this guy behind bars as an example to other creeps who misuse their freedom in a deliberate and negligent attempt to endanger others.
Yep. Banning lazers is probably going to be the next move.
I think they are military lasers because the color of the bean is green. Commercial lasers have a red beam.
So that must mean "black-market" supply. Hmmmm
"On another thread, they said they had lenses that would prevent lasers from doing harm--why not insist on those, instead of limiting the sales of lasers?"
Because it's easier to ban something than to require something. Watch for new regulations to be introduced in Congress within a month.
"I think they are military lasers because the color of the bean is green. Commercial lasers have a red beam.
So that must mean "black-market" supply. Hmmmm
"
You think incorrectly. Google "green laser pointer," and order one. Act quickly, though. They'll be illegal soon.
I think this guy is a random nut case, but given the number of recent incidents from many locations around the country, I think there is more to this. These incidents are clearly more than idiots with laser pointers and appaerently involve some type of sophisticated aiming to target an aircraft a mile high traveling at 400+ knots.
But I see a typo in my post:
Green beam
not green bean
Thanks for that info. I was only repeating what I had heard on Fox News Channel. (Better not to make statements on subjects I really don't know much about.) Smile....
There are many time a laser can reach the cockpit. I'm a pilot and I have lots of ground light reach my eyes in the cockpit at any altitude at any time over land.. I don't care to elaborate because I don't want to give anyone ideas. But take it from me, an pilot that doesn't have his eyes out of cockpit wouldn't last long.
"I think this guy is a random nut case, but given the number of recent incidents from many locations around the country, I think there is more to this. These incidents are clearly more than idiots with laser pointers and appaerently involve some type of sophisticated aiming to target an aircraft a mile high traveling at 400+ knots.
"
Not so. Planes on an approach pattern at an airport are much lower and slower. It would be easy to light one up with one of these high-power green laser pointers. I've used one to give a talk about constellations. You can actually see the beam as it goes through the air. It would be easy to point at a plane on an approach to an airport.
What it sounds like to me is a bunch of people hearing about the possibility of laser pointing at an airplane, then trying out their Christmas present.
The green laser pointers are very popular this year. And they're the ones being used.
I don't think we need to look any further than at common sense on this one.
"But I see a typo in my post:
Green beam
not green bean"
Yah, but I ignored it. However, the idea of attacking a plane with a green bean is pretty funny, doncha thing?
:^)
"I think they are military lasers because the color of the beam is green. Commercial lasers have a red beam."
No, the color (wavelength) of a laser beam has nothing to do with whether it's military or not.
Green laser pointers are manufactured by using an infrared laser diode that has a wavelength of 808nm, shining that beam on a small crystal "ND: YDO4" (pumping) that is resonate at 1064nm (also infrared).
The output from this crystal then passes through a second crystal of "KTP", which doubles the frequency (halves) the wavelength to 534nm. 534nm just happens to be green.
As it turns out, green is much easier to see with the human eye than red, which is the color of most visible spectrum laser diodes.
The most powerful laser diodes are in the infrared spectrum, and are also the most dangerous to the eye. In other words, you don't go to all that work to produce "green" so as to make it more dangerous. You make it green so that you can see it.
Also, for use in computer equipment like DVD writers, the lower the wavelength, the smaller the spots you can burn on the media. This, as it turns out is what has driven the price of such lasers down to the point that they could be used in laser pointers.
On the other hand, infrared diodes are by far the most powerful, the cheapest, and the most dangerous. This would be the best choice for someone (like a terrorist). The pilot would not even see the beam of light... His eyes would just stop working.
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