Folks, bit of a bizarre one and I wonder if anyone's seen it before...

Whilst cruising at FL230 over northern Greece (overhead KVA) the flightdeck was bathed in green light. Having pulled down the glare visor I was able to see a ground based laser pointing at the aircraft (the captain independently verified this). Has anyone suffered a laser nuisance at a level such as this before?! I'm at a loss to explain how the guy was 1. Able to aim it with such accuracy for 10 secs 2. Even own a laser with the power to reach 4 miles up!

A check has shown no laser light shows taking place in the area and I can't think of another explanation.

As an aside, laser attacks seem to becoming increasingly common in this part of the world (ATH FIR). I seem to average 2 a day when on later shifts (lased at both JMK and ATH this evening).

Wish we had some sort of rudimentary LGB :E

P.S. No idea why prune substitutes an @ symbol in the word laser.

Could it be this one?

You have got to be kidding me!

What kind of idiot?...

Please tell me this (link above) is a joke ..... a very sick one ....

Laser pointer forum.

Oh my.....

Chaps, do a bit of research. This SkyTag thing was a 2005 April Fool's joke.

Aiming is the interesting part - that takes some skill and the wish to hit an aircraft at cruise altitude.

FWIW, I own a laser which is rated at 1/3 watt. I bought it from an industrial recycling company which sells a lot of old industrial salvage.

Also FWIW, I have never pointed this laser at anything other than an object at ground level within 100 to 200 feet. It is intense - any reflective mineral sends magnificent sprays of light up, and I'm sure that if I played with this a lot it could cause serious "disturbances" even though I don't point it level or above the horizon.

I keep it as a curio - shining it on a piece of black velvet when I have guests over is a sure-fire conversation starter, because it is powerful enough to reflect off the velvet and put on a stunning light show.


Yes, it was, and I laughed my a$$ off.

But there are still fools out there targeting aircraft with lasers, and I don't think they understand just how damn dangerous it is.


Hopefully you were able to give enough information to help track down the irresponsible a$$hole who lit your flight deck.


Aside from the problems such idiots cause you, they cause me problems. As somewhat a home experimenter, I enjoy having the liberty of being able to purchase such items for my own safe and responsible enjoyment. The cretins who target aircraft do nothing more than make it harder for folks like me to pursue hobbies.


RR

edit - corrected stupidity and added last paragraph

Danger, not nuisance
 

From a geeks forum: "Pointing lasers into the sky and outside in general is one of the best ways to show off and have fun with them after it gets boring burning stuff with it. If done safely it's harmless and great fun. Any pilot who would get distracted just by seeing a beam pointing into the sky and crash probably shouldn't be flying to begin with."

What about T/O and Landings in night?

Oh, my... too

I've worked on lasers for 32 years now.
I admit before a few years ago I dismissed most of these scares as the lasers available would not hurt the eye at any distance.
However things are now getting out of hand. I think it is time that all governments around the world brought in legislation, against the selling of lasers with a power greater than 5mW, to members of the public without a license.
There is no need whatsoever for people to have these devices to "play" with.

A danger to us all.
 

Any laser with a power in excess of 5mW should be classed as a weapon. Even possession should carry similar penalties.
How long before some psychopath gets hold of one of these; PowerLabs CO2 burning Laser!
Write to your MP Contacting your MP - UK Parliament Demand legislation.

LIDAR?
 

Could that have been a LIDAR experiment and getting "hit" was just bad luck? As far as I know you need to get a permission before you do that kind of stuff, but then at the physics institute I was working at they did these experiments (with obviously rather powerful lasers, no way to overlook the bright beam from half a km away even though it was pointed up) very near to the flight path of planes coming in to THF, which was less then 10 km (6 miles) away.

Respond please
 

Look. I'm sorry. I've been barred in a previous life for questioning the "real" danger from these light sources to the "percieved" danger.

I fly GA. Thats all. I don"t have an inflated ego.

I welcome and invite anyone to submit a real life experience where laser light put them in harms way....Let me classify that...we all often fly in less than perfect conditions...into the sun/ fog/ haze etc.

I want specifics...or don't bother whinging here.

I am happy to be burnt alive at the stake. But pls. back up these allegations with REAL opperational concerns.

Best,

SSS

sub
 

Agreed, and these are predictable "hazards", caused by nature, that can be dealt with by the use of autopilot, ATC services, sunglasses and the like.

(sic.)

Well how about a simple operational concern such as the consequences of both pilots temporarily being blinded on finals whilst hand flying the aircraft for a manual landing?

Strait of Juan de Fuca laser incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And if you don't trust wikipedia just google it. It happened.

One that got caught.

Jail for man who shone laser at police helicopter (From The Northern Echo)

What the article does not mention is that shortly before this incident the accused had shone the laser at an airliner, hence the presence of the helicopter.

Beam divergence
 

Twoonefour;
If you take the average beam divergence of a laser powerful enough to cause serious concern to an airliner at 23000ft, and shining directly into the cockpit which would give a slant range. You could easily consider a beam divergence of 0.3m per km (focussing the beam dependant)!!
You would have a beam divergence roughly 6.8ft in diameter or enough to fill the cockpit in visible laser light.

There is a Govt agency in the UK that can take any laser and rate its ability to harm. They can then issue an 'eye safe' report if it passes.

This agency is called the HPA (Health Protection Agency :ok:

Errr isn't that one of the QUANGOs due to get the chop? :=

As an aside, what the pointer brothers don't get is that pilots can't tell if any laser shone at them is eye safe or not. So apart from 'dangerous, distracting or confusing' they have to assume "blinding" which might end their career.

If I ruled the world, the punishment would involve their laser and their eyes.

Sir George Cayley

Twoonefour...
 

Are you a pilot? I doubt it. Do you hand fly approaches in anything serious? With hundreds of lives behind you? At night? Do you actually understand what these idiots firing lasers at us could potentially do?

Edited to add: I fly from Manchester. I have not been targeted but several of my colleagues have. This is not a joking matter about Chinese Mil lasers - lasers capable of blinding and causing untold carnage are available on the net / ebay for less than £100.

Or the only pilot. It's getting towards the start of laser season again, and I'm not looking forward to it.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...ecopter/LP.jpg