4 ms·
As a commercial pilot that has been hit a number of times by lasers, I find the report over the top. At the speed and distance the airplane is when hit (180 kts
by omegant 11y ago
As a commercial pilot that has been hit a number of times by lasers, I find the report over the top. At the speed and distance the airplane is when hit (180 kts, 2000' high when 6 miles from the airport), you see they are trying to laser you, but is extremely difficult to fix the beam on you for more than some ms. At that distance the laser is quite wide too, and the cristal provides some protection. Also the beam comes from your side, and usually you don't look directly that way, so it's hard yo get a direct retine hit.
I don't know what type of injury did the pilot suffer but all the cases that I know the laser was just anoying and a distraction.
It must be prosecuted, but banning all lasers is stupid in my opinion.
- pkaye 11y agoI always wondered how lasers could be precisely aimed by hand at the distance a typical plane flies given it is a moving target.
- stephengillie 11y agoIt's the same math as circle-strafing, just reversed. Since the plane is moving relative to you, it's the plane's transverse velocity against your rotation rate and accuracy. Basically it's 2 questions: - Can you turn your wrist faster than the plane can fly? - Can you hold your hand extremely steady?
- pkaye 11y agoAt the typical distance and speed of a flying plane and size/angle of cockpit window and obstruction of nose, what is the arc-seconds of accuracy needed to target the window?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- JulianMorrison 11y agoBecause the laser has a very narrow beam, no, you can't hold it steady enough for a deliberate aim, but, you can end up wiggling it around enough over the targeted area, that one or more glints get in someone's eye, and a laser can harm an eye with an instant's exposure.
- ascorbic 11y agoI love the fact* that it is theoretically possible to move the dot from a laser pointer faster than the speed of light, as it carries no information. *Please correct me if I'm wrong. IANAP
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- Johnny555 11y agoSo you're saying that the commercial pilot of Virgin Atlantic flight VS025 that called "pan pan pan" to request an urgent return to Heathrow was overreacting and that his co-pilot suffered no serious vision loss? Note that the laser strike was on takeoff and they didn't land until about 2 hours after departure, so the pilot's vision was still affected an hour into the flight.
- tzakrajs 11y agoI believe that is exactly what he is saying.
- omegant 11y agoNo, he maybe was hit badly, maybe was filling dizzy afterwards and they thought the laser was the reason. I don't know all the possible effects of a laser in a human eye, nor the power of this laser or the medical situation of the pilot prior to the encounter. Also if one of the pilots finds himself unable to continue the flight, the other pilot has to declare pan pan, or even may day, as he is operating alone, it seems a bit dramatic but it's mandated that way. What I know is that common laser incidents are annoying to pilots but usually harmless, and the pilot's association request to ban all lasers is over the top. You still got to prosecute the dumb people playing to blind pilots anyway, not just for medical injuries, but because you are in a delicate parts of the flight and every distraction has potential consequences during landing and take-off.