Laser targets Airlines in Nashville

Fox17News -Nashville (article not posted yet) ^ | Self | Self

[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.

[edmond246]

You and some others may not buy it, or believe it, but it does deserve the attention it is getting. There were many strange things going on before 9/11, including middle eastern men learning how to fly but not to land. We need to find out what is causing this, kids or terrorists, or otherwise.

[BigSkyFreeper]

We need to find out what is causing this, kids or terrorists, or otherwise.

Whoever is responsible faces a federal crime.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Probably a laser pointer. Although noticable from the cockpit, would not cause any harm to the pilot (although, a high-power argon/YAG laser certainly could). Nonethess, look for laser pointers to be outlawed soon.

[ProudVet77]

The specific one I was thinking of actually reported green light in the cockpit for a few seconds.
"The pilots described the light as a laser that entered the cockpit from the chief officer's window and did not move off the aircraft, said Alison Gemmell, director of marketing and communication for SkyWest Airlines." from
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2004/12/31/news/news09.txt

[Archangelsk]

How does one shine a laser into the cockpit from beneath it?

It was probably slant range and anyone can get an approach plate, a nav/com radio, and with a little trig work figure out where to stand and point as the plane tracks over the final approach fix (there's your 3000 foot altitude at the FAF). The laser light would probably hit the upper panel, which would be distinctive to the pilots because the upper panel on nearly all transport category airplanes is "dark," and therefore they would notice it. For those of you who have an AOPA membership click on this link and you'll see how disturbing this is: Runway 21.

[DBrow]

Seeing a tiny green dot on a plane two miles away is not going to be easy.

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If you start with a 1mm beam size, color 532 nm (green), the spot size will be about 12 feet in diameter at 10,000 feet distance. It will be bigger if the air is turbulent and smaller if the laser aperture is bigger.

If you are scanning the sky, you'll see the laser beam going up. If you hit something shiny with the beam, you'll see a bright spark that's the reflection. You'll know you hit something shiny, and would not know if it was a mylar helium baloon or a 757, unless you also saw the plane's lights.

[WildTurkey]

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.

Hmmm. If the laser was situated 4 miles out from the airport that is 10,000 feet plus altitude or approx. 10,700 feet. This is only slightly longer than the laser linked on this thread.

[Archangelsk]

My bad Runway 2L ILS.

[PistolPaknMama]

So the question is, could some teenage pranksters in several different areas of the US purchase or engineer one of these things, position it anywhere from 0-12 miles from the airport and target a plane at 3000 feet? If the plane was 6 miles from the airport, and the laser was positioned 3 miles from the airport, and considering the 3000 ft altitude of the plane, is this possible with a laser any old Joe can purchase from any old store?

[DBrow]

Hardly. 6 miles out and 3000 feet is not the kind of laser you could pick up just anywhere.

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A 50 mW green laser module costs between 300 and 1200 dollars. That would work well.

A 5 mW laser pointer costs $80, and would be visible to a person standing several miles away. A dark-adapted pilot could easily see a laser pointer.

In WWII ground-based carbon arc searchlights could tag an aircraft at a range of 20 to 30 miles, no laser, no complex tracker, no computer, just a bright arc light like a welder using carbon rods.

[OrangeDaisy]

Yikes--I'm about 6 miles from BNA as the crow flies, and planes fly over my neighborhood constantly. I promise I've been in the house watching football and surfing the net all day. It would be very hard to find an unpopulated area 6 miles out from BNA. Lots of suburbia!

[Rokke]

The article you linked also states passengers saw the light as well. They couldn't have seen it if it were limited to a small spot aimed at the cockpit.

[DBrow]

This is TERRORISM! It is concerted TERRORISM. This has occurred in 5 cities in 7 days. The good news is that the lasers don't work!! YET! but there is no doubt in the mind of anyone with a brain that these are terrorists, pure and simple.

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Terrorists would start out with a 10W laser or 30W laser that would really, guaranteed, hurt, not little ones that generate reports and concern.

Do you think Mohammed Atta practiced with paper planes, then RC models?

The price of green lasers just dipped below $100; they are advertised on the web and in astronomy mags, and we just passed Christmas, and they are in the news.

Also, if someone pointed a laser at the belly or tail of a plane, the pilots would not report it- they wouldn't see it! They are just reporting the cretins out in front of them.

[idkfa]

OPTRA's Laser Event Recorder (LER) wins Aviation Week's Product Breakthrough Award! November 15, 2004

This low-cost, light-weight, laser event recorder has been designed to capture and record laser exposures. The battery powered, self-contained sensor is rugged enougt for the most demanding applications (e.g. aricraft or vehicle mounted) yet small and light enough to be worn by an individual.

The laser event recorder has a large field of view and is designed to measure laser wavelength, radiant exposure level, pulse duration, repetition rate, and is able to discriminate against natural and man-made light sources. When the laser event recorder detects laser radiation, it provides a visual indication of whether the exposure is eye safe or hazardous (as defined by ANSI Z136.1 2001) and captures a digital image of the scene containing the laser and stores all the data in a time-stamped, downloadable file. The laser event recorder can operate unattended for up to six hours.

Although designed around specific Navy requirements, the versatility of the design will allow immediate use by other services, agencies and security groups charged with the protection of civilian assets (commercial aircraft, large commercial buildings, nuclear power plants, etc.) Monitoring of unintentional illumination of spectators at events involving laser light shows is yet another potential application of the laser event recorder.

 

[Rokke]

Yes

[StopGlobalWhining]

Sounds like another idea from a Tom Clancy book that the terrorists have picked up on. In "Debt of Honor", a Japanese commercial airline pilot crashes a fully fueled jumbo jet into Congress during the State of the Union Address, killing the president, VP, members of the House and Senate etc.

Prior to that, in the same book, US CIA operatives bring down Japanese commercial flights in the process of landing from hotel rooms near airports in Japan.

[Squantos]

;o)..........Back to the salt mine in the AM !!

[WildTurkey]

[Howlin]

Are these incidents all within a reasonable driving range? Like a cluster?

[Rokke]

My dad had an eyeball like that in the back of his head that he would use to figure out which one of us kids was causing the trouble in the backseat of the car.