[ProudVet77]

The problem is how do you know the laser is hitting the plane. Seeing a tiny green dot on a plane two miles away is not going to be easy.

[Rokke]

I doubt the planes are 2 miles away. This latest one was at 3000 feet.

[lawdude]

"The problem is how do you know the laser is hitting the plane."

Mount it on your binoculars. Scope on a rifle style!

[BigSkyFreeper]

The problem is how do you know the laser is hitting the plane. Seeing a tiny green dot on a plane two miles away is not going to be easy.

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.

[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.

[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.

 

[OXENinFLA]

The problem is how do you know the laser is hitting the plane. Seeing a tiny green dot on a plane two miles away is not going to be easy.

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And unlike a red laser, the green beam itself can be seen in mid-air in dark conditions, not just the laser beam dot. This allows the green laser pointer to be used for pointing to star constellations (skypointing) and also just generally look cool as hell. The green laser beam dot can be seen at much greater distances than with a red laser pointer.

Range of approximately 9,000 ft (2600 m) in darkness

LINK

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This is why you're hearing the reports of a "Green" laser.

[SauronOfMordor]

The problem is how do you know the laser is hitting the plane. Seeing a tiny green dot on a plane two miles away is not going to be easy.

Take a rifle with a high-power scope. Mount the laser to the barrel. Adjust the laser so that the beam is aligned with the scope. Away you go. Or you just directly attach the laser and telescope together

And if the guy is on a busy flight path, and targets every airplane he sees, he's going to hit a few cockpits