The other night, as there was very little else on the box, I happened to have settled to watch one of these nothing to declare programs. It was about the goings on at Cork airport. A young feller had been pulled up and nothing, except a laser torch had been found.
After checking with his superior that the item was not on the prohibited list, the customs officer gave it back to him. As the passenger was leaving he told the customs officer that where he lived there were not many aeroplanes anyway. Now what does that mean I wondered. The only answer I could come up with is that, the chap must have known that`s what the thing is used for in the main by morons and that he would not have the convenience to put it into it`s intended purpose. Some shrink ought to do one of these word association tests with the word "laser". I expect the answer would be " aircraft".

No. It would be "cats".

Given the media attention given to lasers that have been pointed at aircraft, perhaps he assumed that this was what had worried them enough to hold his device while they carried out checks?

They are not "attacks" except in the hysterical media/pilot view. Even the high-powered Russian lasering from their destroyers of our patrol aircraft was merely a form of dissuasion.

The pencil stuff is an arcade game for bored scroats/chav. As in "I wonder if this thing will paint a dot on an aircraft". No malice or harm intended.

Should have got longer.
 

If this hasn't been posted.....

Man jailed for shining laser pen at police helicoper and two planes - Liverpool Echo

oopspff7,

Yes, longer would have been good. The new UK laws now going through Parliament will entitle him to a 5-year stretch next time, even if he tries it on a car or a train driver.

Malabo,

Nonsense. While some strikes are driven by curiosity, plenty are malicious. In this country, the police helicopters come in for special treatment, but we even have idiots having a go at HEMS. There have been blindings caused by laser pointers, some of them deliberate - the Royal College of Ophthamologists here will give you more information if you ask nicely. For the record, you can now buy lasers devices at 5W+ which will do you irreparable harm at >150m. I have no idea why the USA and China feel the need to manufacture them as there is no 'normal' consumer use for them.

Quite right. They are a mere trifle. Just kids having fun.

Seriously? Many of us have been 'hit' by these menaces. About two weeks ago for me. A really unpleasnnt crosswind landing at EM was not helped by geting l@sered just exactly when it was least needed. That's about the fourth time in a year or so, and that's four times too many. At present, they're a nuisance. Just wait until someone on finals with an issue gets hit. A serious distraction at that stage, involving temporary vision loss, could make all the difference. No malice or harm intended? What bl**dy planet are you on, because it certainly isn't one wheer your at the pointy end.

Still not a single aircraft lost to either laser or drone incidents anywhere in the world?

Just making the point that there are a lot more tangible hazards in the world of aviation. Laser pointers and drones are a risk that can be mitigated to some extent by legislation, which is a good thing. But neither of those devices have caused a crash anywhere in the world. Incompetence, fatigue, bad weather, bird strikes, terrorism and equipment failures have resulted in many crashes since laser pointers and drones first became available.

Laser pointers and drones are tangible threats to flight safety, but based on the evidence to date, birds represent a level of threat several orders of magnitude greater. No one has yet instituted the unrestricted culling of birds close to airports despite this potentially saving millions of dollars a year in aircraft repairs due to bird strikes.

So while I welcome legislation to control the irresponsible use of laser pointers and drones, I do not regard them as a genuine threat to air safety in the same league as the other hazards mentioned.

I completely accept that those who make their living from flying probably have a somewhat different opinion of these devices.

God there are some fools posting here. As above, I've been 'hit' a number of times now, and I'm sure others have. To say it's somehow OK because no crash has been caused to date is simply insane. At the very least it's incredibly distracting (at a time you really do not want to be distracted), at worst it can temporarily affect vision.
OK. Nobody has died so far, and that somehow makes it acceptable? Loss of vision on an approach is about the worst scenario. Most times, it will indeed be fine. But, as we all know, if the holes in the cheese all line up, then an additional factor can make all the difference.
I do not see it as some sort of joke. I see it as a massive disaster waithing to happen. Anyone who thinks it is anything else is mad.

Rabski. Here here.
Those that think otherwise are 1) Not Pilots 2) Never been targeted.
Bet they would think otherwise if they had tried driving their car at 120mph with a green blob sitting in their central vision panorama. Oh & then judge the height of the rear bumper of the car 30ft behind them.

L@ser attacker jailed
 

Zossen district court has sentenced a 49 year old man to 8 months of jail for blinding a helicopter with a laser.

The police helicopter was on a mission to investigate reports on laser attacks made by airliners approaching SXF when its crew suffered the same attack from an apartment block. The attacker could not be convicted of having performed the previous attacks and consequently only received a sentence for attacking the helicopter. No parole is possible and the perpetrator will serve his 8 months as soon as the case is closed.

I´d say it is a good start to see also the German courts take a harder stance on such actions, although I personally would have liked to see him go down for attempted murder. Let everyone else who might contemplate such an attack behold and consider this...