Then I was listening to the radio comm on liveatc.net
That's when I heard them report getting hit with a green laser while on approach to runway 36 at Myrtle Beach.
I reported it to the paper. Pilots have been blinded by these things.
I bought one of those cheap red laser pointers for my grandson and was surprised how far they would carry at night.
I could shine my mailbox which is a hundred yards away and the beam was still nearly as tiny as it started. This one was powered by 3 1.5 volt button cells which were included and the whole thing only cost a dollar.
I decided it would be too dangerous for him at his age.
“Pilots have been blinded by these things.”
No they haven’t, that’s a bunch of crap... Nor will there be. The eye will react to a visible light laser of the power of these devices fast enough to protect the eye. At close range with a target that is nor moving you may get a flash of light that would produce temporary blindness only, similar to a flashbulb or flash tube.
The devices we are talking about are in the MW range, usually under 5. The power density decreases with the square of the increase in size of the beam. The damage done to the retina is proportional to the average power (heat) absorbed.
If it was possible, our own military could use it against incoming planes. It doesn’t work... Assuming one developed the servo system to keep the beam trained on the cockpit window (which would be bulky and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars) and you used a higher power laser - then maybe...
BTW... the reason ducks are hunted with a shotgun is that you can’t hit them with a 22. A laser is like a 22. One pencil lead diameter beam, trying to focus on an eyeball traveling at 150 MPH at 1000 feet. Not going to happen. The eye will absorb more energy from your cell phone than you could possibly transfer to it from a MW laser at 1000 feet.
The army has laser-defeating glass. Perhaps this stuff needs to go into commercial aviation windows....