This is getting serious - this is the forth "lasering" incident I've heard of in the last two weeks...
win Autographed Copy of Hugh Hewitt's Best Seller
Posted on 01/02/2005 7:16:29 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants
Just reported: An airline on approach to the Nashville airport has had it's cockpit targeted by a green laser. The plane was about 6 miles out and at 3000 feet when the incident occurred. The plane landed safely and no one was injured.
This makes SEVERAL reports of green lasers being targeted at commercial airlines in the past several days. Something really weird is going on and it is a concerted effort by several individual groups acting in concert or one very mobile unit.
Did the laser come with the microscope?
This is all too weird to me.........I can't imagine that many kids are sitting around playing with green lasers?
Somethings "scewey"........
"The problem is how do you know the laser is hitting the plane."
Mount it on your binoculars. Scope on a rifle style!
The 6 miles out is the reported distance that the plane was from the airport.
The laser I mentioned was built 10+ years ago and it was pretty compact I might add. Fit in a shoe box.
Are you terrified? I'm not terrified. And I'm a professional pilot.
Green lasers don't project a dot like a pocket sized red laser pointer. Just by Googling for green lasers they're sold commercially. Many times green lasers are used at rock concerts.
I guess it could be done, but I certainly couldn't. Even without a cup of coffee. Maybe on a tripod with some kind of spotter scope.
The darn things are a nuisance and don't work!! But the terrorist are stupid and didn't know that after they crossed our borders.
Since no one knows where the laser was situated, obviously it was six miles out from the airport. Even if the laser was situated 4 miles from the airport, thats 21,000 feet, plus the altitude of the plane. Hardly a boxed "weekend fun with lasers" system from the local store.
site=sight
I don't think these incidents are tracking or lock on incidents either. Jets on final approach, even 6 miles out are visible to the naked eye, even in daylight, because they have their lights on.
The type of laser that aircrews are reporting are not exactly ones that I'd expect terrorists to be using. Visible light in a cockpit, even to the extent of damaging pilots' eyes, probably wouldn't keep a plane from landing safely. Commercial airliners can be landed on autopilot quite easily.
In order to cause serious problems, you'd need something with a lot more power than a laser pointer that can be purchased at Staples. The wavelength would probably not be in the visible light spectrum. Also, the tracking system would need to be more sophisticated than a pair of binoculars - it wouldn't be the easiest task to manually hold a laser beam on an airliner cockpit from thousands of yards away.
I will grant that this could potentially be terrorist types practicing targeting, using commercial lasers. It is also as likely as not to be kids playing.
From the descriptions I've read, the pilots report seeing a laser. That doesn't mean they noticed a little green light dancing around the roof of the cockpit. They most likely noticed it pointed up from the ground. I work with some very sophisticated and powerful lasers. Their spot size expands with range quite a bit. The little penlight you see at the source becomes significantly larger at ranges over a mile. Furthermore, most military tracking lasers are infrared. Obviously you don't want your target to notice he is being tracked, so the lasers operate outside the normal visual spectrum. It is extremely unlikely any of these laser sightings have anything to do with any military tracking systems.
Well, so long as the terrorists crossing our borders are stupid, I will remain unterrified.
We have a green laser pointer where I work. It is the only eye safe one we use. Cost was pretty steep, about $100.00 for a pointer!
Me too. I just don't believe it.
I certainly hope this is not some plot because I just booked a ticket for my grandson who's 13 to come visit us for spring break.
It's very easy to buy a green laser, but I guess that's going to change quite quickly.
i really hope its not someone testing out their new laser-guided-missile tracking system before shooting off a precious SAM ... it just seems like if you're a bad guy going through the trouble to track something that high up and that fast (assuming the news reports are correct), you'd probably be able to get a laser that actually does the job ... unless "blinding" the pilots isn't what you're trying to do at all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.