Northwest pilots report lasers on approach to Detroit airport

5 Eyewitness News ^ | Updated: 02/25/2005 07:34:27 AM | AP

[Roland]

Thanks for pointing that out I was fooled.

[Fred Hayek]

There was an incident in 1997 (?) where a US Navy helicopter pilot checking a Russian trawler reported in Puget Sound (NOT in international waters, and not far from the Trident sub base). The pilot reported being hit with a laser from the trawler, and being temporarily blinded. There were similar reports from RCN helicopter pilots regarding the same trawler.

[tallhappy]

Not all light is visible. Think infrared.

Generally nomenclature is different. eg Maser.

[TexasCowboy]

Too many to be pranksters. I don't believe that line for a second.

[Yo-Yo]

Yes, I recall that incident. The laser source was infrared, and was most likely from a laser rangfinder. Here is an excerpt from a May 1997 story that I can't link to because it's from Lexus/Nexus:

A Russian fishing vessel off the northwest coast of Washington state may have fired a laser beam suspected of injuring a Navy lieutenant and Canadian military pilot flying above the ship trying to determine if it was spying, U.S. officials said.

The April 4 incident in the Strait of Juan De Fuca prompted an inconclusive Coast Guard search of the Russian trawler and a protest to Moscow by State Department officials who acknowledged yesterday they still do not know exactly what happened that day.

The Coast Guard conducted a routine safety inspection of the vessel at 8 p.m. the same day. U.S. officials were allowed to search the public areas but not "private quarters" of the Russian ship, according to several sources.

Despite being barred from some parts of the ship, "they felt things were not being hidden from them," a White House official said of the Coast Guard search party. The searchers were allowed to photograph the ship's logs, for instance.

The search turned up nothing. Military officials assume the laser was a range-finder, not a weapon, used to gauge the distance of a target.

Has nothing at all to do with green laser pointers, which are eye-safe unless you stare right into the end for minutes at a time. At the range of the approaching aircraft, it is definately eye safe, and the only real danger is distracting the pilot's attention.