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Personally I'm unconvinced by the danger posed by handheld lasers to an aircraft. A group of people all pointing high-powered ones into the eyes of a pilot as i

Personally I'm unconvinced by the danger posed by handheld lasers to an aircraft. A group of people all pointing high-powered ones into the eyes of a pilot as it's landing, yes that's dangerous. But a single person, it'd be pretty difficult to keep it on target long enough to have real effect. Most of the time I'd say it's just kids pointing up into the sky and maybe hitting the underside of a plane for a split-second, it's not the end of the world. Lets not act like they're shooting heat-seeking missiles. Yes, it's not the right thing to do and shouldn't be happening, but let's not blow the risk out of all proportion. Of course I do understand why such behavior needs to be illegal, because otherwise whole neighborhoods could band together to distract pilots and bring down aircraft. But by the same token we don't need to send in the SWAT team for a teenager with a laser pointer. Cue all the keyboard warrior pilots telling me how a 747 will instantly fall out of the sky if touched for a millisecond by a handheld AA-powered laser. edit: actually just the downvotes, whatever.

NickNameNick 5y ago
It's worth looking at some video of what a laser strike looks like from the cockpit. eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoj3H7LMy2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoj3H7LMy2k And because this happens at night, the pilot looses their dark adaptation - they will have difficulty seeing for a minute or longer after each flash. So, no, the airplane won't instantly roll over dive into the nearest building. But it is still quite dangerous.
- brokenmachine 5y ago
  I note that in that video, the first footage there is a plane on the runway with someone shining the laser from maybe 30m away. Not a moving plane in flight. And it doesn't speak to the quality of the reporting when it shows the alarmist message "THIS FOOTAGE SHOWS A LASER ATTACK ON A PASSENGER PLANE", combined with footage that is clearly not from a plane but a helicopter. In my younger, stupider days I've played with laser pointers with my young, stupid friends, trying to shine them into each others eyes from across a park. It's really not that bad because you can't hold it steady enough and in a moving aircraft from a large distance would be a non-event. A helicopter would be more vulnerable however, and as I said a group of people all ARMED with laser WEAPONS to ATTACK. Yes, people who shine at planes are doing the wrong thing, but it's not bad enough to warrant alarmist all-caps warning messages and pretending it's anywhere near as much threat as physical impacts with drones, drunk/sleepy pilots, crappy maintenance or plane UI (lol, I watch Air Crash Investigations TV show), or anything else.
  - Teever 5y ago
    > In my younger, stupider days I've played with laser pointers with my young, stupid friends, trying to shine them into each others eyes from across a park. I'm assuming that these were 1w red laser pointers? Have you ever played with those new 5w and 10w green lasers? They're a whole other ballpark. One of the big issues is that while a red light doesn't affect your night vision a green laser will.
    - anonymousiam 5y ago
      I'm assuming that you meant mW everywhere you wrote W.
      - Teever 5y ago
        Nope. https://www.laserpointerpro.com/attribute/power_5000mw-laser_81 https://www.laserpointerpro.com/attribute/power_5000mw-laser...
        brokenmachine 5y ago
        Wow, that is actually very scary. I take it back. That is a ridiculous power in a handheld laser.
        anonymousiam 5y ago
        I'm aware of these, but the context of what you wrote doesn't seem to match. Did you and your friends suffer burns or blindness when playing with these lasers (which likely did not yet exist when you were younger)? 5mW Nd:YAG(green) laser pointers have been around for about 20 years. Handheld green lasers with power levels above 2W have only been available for about five years.
    - brokenmachine 5y ago
      They were labelled as "<5mW" red lasers, from memory. I have seen the 5mW green lasers and you're right, I wouldn't play with them aiming them at people's eyes, but I still wouldn't call in an airstrike if my plane was hit by one for a split-second.
pc86 5y ago
Let's have you hop in the left seat of a small aircraft, at night, 500 feet above the ground and I'll blind you for 20 seconds with a laser pointer. The fact that you're "unconvinced" of something that is a documented danger that could literally kill people is astounding to me. When people talk about this they're not talking about 747s or private aircraft 10k feet in the air. They're talking about small planes in airports and low to the ground. You're getting (rightfully) downvoted because you're making ridiculous ignorant comments about things you obviously know nothing about.
- brokenmachine 5y ago
  "Documented danger". Has it ever caused a crash or other damage? Or just "documented danger", unlike the myriad other undocumented dangers I listed in my other comment? 20 seconds seems like an extraordinarily long time to be able to hold a handheld laser on a moving target. Exaggerate much? You seem to think it's a world-ending danger. I don't. That's fine, I don't fly so whatever.
  - labcomputer 5y ago
    You're right! We should do a randomized controlled trial to make sure that "obvious dangers" like jumping out of a plane without a parachute are really a bad idea. I volunteer for the test (parachute group). Will you volunteer for the control group? There's been no peer-reviewed scientific evidence to date that parachutes actually help. We'll be advancing the cause of science!
    - eythian 5y ago
      The parachute study has been done: https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 tl;dr no significant difference in results with vs. without.
      - labcomputer 5y ago
        Ha! +10 points for pedantry. I should have been more specific: Jumping from a plane from a significant altitude, say 2000 feet AGL.
imtringued 5y ago
Here is an army of hand held laser pointers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIOh9-RoAaE&t=51s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIOh9-RoAaE&t=51s

NickNameNick 5y ago

It's worth looking at some video of what a laser strike looks like from the cockpit. eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoj3H7LMy2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoj3H7LMy2k And because this happens at night, the pilot looses their dark adaptation - they will have difficulty seeing for a minute or longer after each flash. So, no, the airplane won't instantly roll over dive into the nearest building. But it is still quite dangerous.

brokenmachine 5y ago
I note that in that video, the first footage there is a plane on the runway with someone shining the laser from maybe 30m away. Not a moving plane in flight. And it doesn't speak to the quality of the reporting when it shows the alarmist message "THIS FOOTAGE SHOWS A LASER ATTACK ON A PASSENGER PLANE", combined with footage that is clearly not from a plane but a helicopter. In my younger, stupider days I've played with laser pointers with my young, stupid friends, trying to shine them into each others eyes from across a park. It's really not that bad because you can't hold it steady enough and in a moving aircraft from a large distance would be a non-event. A helicopter would be more vulnerable however, and as I said a group of people all ARMED with laser WEAPONS to ATTACK. Yes, people who shine at planes are doing the wrong thing, but it's not bad enough to warrant alarmist all-caps warning messages and pretending it's anywhere near as much threat as physical impacts with drones, drunk/sleepy pilots, crappy maintenance or plane UI (lol, I watch Air Crash Investigations TV show), or anything else.
- Teever 5y ago
  > In my younger, stupider days I've played with laser pointers with my young, stupid friends, trying to shine them into each others eyes from across a park. I'm assuming that these were 1w red laser pointers? Have you ever played with those new 5w and 10w green lasers? They're a whole other ballpark. One of the big issues is that while a red light doesn't affect your night vision a green laser will.
  - anonymousiam 5y ago
    I'm assuming that you meant mW everywhere you wrote W.
    - Teever 5y ago
      Nope. https://www.laserpointerpro.com/attribute/power_5000mw-laser_81 https://www.laserpointerpro.com/attribute/power_5000mw-laser...
      - brokenmachine 5y ago
        Wow, that is actually very scary. I take it back. That is a ridiculous power in a handheld laser.
      - anonymousiam 5y ago
        I'm aware of these, but the context of what you wrote doesn't seem to match. Did you and your friends suffer burns or blindness when playing with these lasers (which likely did not yet exist when you were younger)? 5mW Nd:YAG(green) laser pointers have been around for about 20 years. Handheld green lasers with power levels above 2W have only been available for about five years.
  - brokenmachine 5y ago
    They were labelled as "<5mW" red lasers, from memory. I have seen the 5mW green lasers and you're right, I wouldn't play with them aiming them at people's eyes, but I still wouldn't call in an airstrike if my plane was hit by one for a split-second.

pc86 5y ago

Let's have you hop in the left seat of a small aircraft, at night, 500 feet above the ground and I'll blind you for 20 seconds with a laser pointer. The fact that you're "unconvinced" of something that is a documented danger that could literally kill people is astounding to me. When people talk about this they're not talking about 747s or private aircraft 10k feet in the air. They're talking about small planes in airports and low to the ground. You're getting (rightfully) downvoted because you're making ridiculous ignorant comments about things you obviously know nothing about.

brokenmachine 5y ago
"Documented danger". Has it ever caused a crash or other damage? Or just "documented danger", unlike the myriad other undocumented dangers I listed in my other comment? 20 seconds seems like an extraordinarily long time to be able to hold a handheld laser on a moving target. Exaggerate much? You seem to think it's a world-ending danger. I don't. That's fine, I don't fly so whatever.
- labcomputer 5y ago
  You're right! We should do a randomized controlled trial to make sure that "obvious dangers" like jumping out of a plane without a parachute are really a bad idea. I volunteer for the test (parachute group). Will you volunteer for the control group? There's been no peer-reviewed scientific evidence to date that parachutes actually help. We'll be advancing the cause of science!
  - eythian 5y ago
    The parachute study has been done: https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 tl;dr no significant difference in results with vs. without.
    - labcomputer 5y ago
      Ha! +10 points for pedantry. I should have been more specific: Jumping from a plane from a significant altitude, say 2000 feet AGL.

imtringued 5y ago

Here is an army of hand held laser pointers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIOh9-RoAaE&t=51s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIOh9-RoAaE&t=51s