Except that green lasers are not typical off-the-shelf, are they?
Also, at least once incident reported that the plane was actually tracked over a period of seconds. That doesn't sound like a kid in the back yard with a laser toy and not an easy task to accomplish with a toy laser.
Yes, they are. I just googled it.
Oh, it's probably just light from all those sparks in the fuel tanks. (You know -- the ones that did in TWA 800.)
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.
Actually it's quite easy.
Right you are...the green lasers are the military variety. There have been approx. 52 incidents of this nature over the past 2 years. Additionally, the planes that have been targeted had been flying at an altitude of greater than 3000 feet. Lessens the chance of these incidents being harmless pranks or stupidity. Add to that scenario the fact that the laser directly hits the cockpit at the higher altitude, would insinuate that the tracker has some degree of sophistication...
It appears they now are. You can go to Goggle and do a search. One is a green-laser gun, with a distance of 10 miles, and it is only $10. The more powerful lasers than this require a permit.
A few years ago, when red lasers were cheap enough, kids would bring them to the hockey games in NJ for the players entrance. Only, during the playoffs did someone decide to try to disturb Brodeur's (the goalie) vision did the arena start banning them.
This could all just be a new fad, a new prank. However, who wants to take a chance that this is something else? If the local authorities can track and grab the people, they should. There are FAA regulations regarding kites, there must be something regarding lasers. These cases should be investigated. If they are pranksters, they are probably going to have to made out as an example.