Originally Posted by
Mr Magnetic
I'd be very interested to hear about any evidence demonstrating that any individuals have progressed from using laser pointers to flying small UAS in close proximity to manned aircraft.
As there have been many recorded cases of small UAS (aka Drones) flying close to airliners and the UAS 'pilots' have not been caught such proof may be difficult. Even after an incident it will be impossible to identify the 'pilot' of the UAS. The point I was making was that while we (or most here) have an innate knowledge of aviation and what the basic rules are, a significant minority of the population do not. Children shine flash-lights into the air to see the beam, l@ser pointer owners do the same, some see if they can 'illuminate' an aircraft, I doubt very much that they are deliberately trying to cause vision problems for the pilots; they just don't think about that, they are trying to show a green spot on the aircraft flying overhead.
It is the same lack of thought and similar ignorance of effects that will have a toy UAS 'pilot' see if they can get a close up picture of an airliner. If you find some of their websites you will see examples of such idiocy - I saw one in UK where the 'pilot' liked flying the UAS up through the cloud base to see if the UAS could get above the cloud layer.
There was zero thought that being in London might mean that the UAS was now at the same level as final approach patterns into one of the airports.
All airports with final approaches over towns are at risk of this mindless 'play'. It is just the same lack of thought that leads to the l@ser pointer 'play'. All 'players' involved will be able to give you detailed breakdown of the programs. charts and performers on MTV - but have zero knowledge of aviation. Fulminations here or in governments, severe sentences even given, are not going to stop these 'players' as they will be ignorant of them.