Astronomy l@zers
 

There are two very distinct classes of l@zers that might be used by
astronomers.

The first is a classroom l@zer pointer used to highlight sights in the
sky for a huddle of people at night, see
5mW Green Laser Pointer for Astronomy.
There's no reason for these to exceed 5mW.

The second is the multi-10W class of yellow l@zers used to produce a
~90-km-high sodium beacon to sample atmospheric turbulence above
a small number of professional observatories. These are always used
with spotters, who cut off the l@zer on sight of aircraft. See,
http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/optics/l...cs/kaon361.pdf.
These are launched through 20-cm-class telescopes, so they have
finite width, but would definitely hurt. In the US, pointing directions
must also be approved in advance by the USAF to avoid satellite
collisions, and on a typical night there are a handful of windows where
the air force refuses the observatory permission to use the l@ser.

I would be interested to know whether pilots operating near Mounts
Hamilton and Palomar, California and Mauna Kea in Hawaii have noticed
these yellow/orange beams, especially on night-vision goggles. It is very likely that military observatories in Hawaii and the western US use similar
beacons.

These l@zer classes are so distinct in properties, that neither should
interfere with aircraft operations. The first by being no risk, and the second by being turned off if aircraft are near. I am sceptical that an innocent astronomy spotting pointer being scanned from star to star in the sky could be responsible for an aircraft blinding incident, and would expect a court
to see through this as a defense, especially as there's no reason to use
a pointer without a small crowd of witnesses.

I would expect that atmospheric chemistry sounding l@zers and l@zer-show
l@zers would pose more of a risk.

Prison sentence upheld for l@zer louts
 

Some of you may recall a recent thread concerning two oafs who had targeted a l@zer pen at a police helicopter. They came before HH Judge Tudor Owen at Snaresbrook Crown Court who sentenced them to six months custody.

The Court of Appeal recently considered their appeals and dismissed them observing that in the view of their Lordships the case clearly crossed the custody threshold and such a case could not be dealt with by any lesser penalty.

The Court further observed that His Honour Judge Owen "plainly took a great deal of care over this case." In passing sentence the learned judge said the message should go out that people who target helicopters in this idiotic and dangerous way should expect to receive custodial sentences.

The Muppets are still at it!
 

13.09.08
A police investigation is under way after a laser beam was targeted at Aberdeen Airport last night. An airport spokesman told the Press & Journal: ‘There was a report of green laser light being directed onto the airfield from the Overton Garage area.'
Two airport employees reported seeing the light yesterday. Police and airport security staff swooped on the site where the laser light came from – a mile to the north-west of the runway.

A police spokeswoman said: ‘I can confirm we are investigating an incident involving a laser light which occurred at 22:00. Inquiries are at an early stage and are currently on going. But the light was not shone at any aircraft or vehicle.’

I thought the end of this video was something of relevance to the thread - along with lighting things.

Complete watching is encouraged.

YouTube - Green laser - Hulk hand held laser - what can it burn???

Fascinating to see the side bar ads all trying to sell us lasers on this thread:rolleyes:

When you sell your soul to google, there will be pain.

Yep, this one was beside your post on my browser:

The MVPS Hosts File prevents any of these ads displaying. All the pages look normal to me.
(Darn. Now I won't be in the know if I ever want to buy a laser.:})

I use "noscript" within firefox..I also dont see any of that cr@p

The Texas Method
 

Assume that the little green dot is part of the targeting aid on a firearm. Return fire immediately. Self-defense.

And of course a small moral victory will be achieved if everyone reading this thread clicks on a few of those links for companies selling these lasers. These companies have to pay Google for every click through to their website, and Pprune then gets a share of this money from Google ....

There are safety goggles.
Protection Safety Glasses Goggles for 532nm Green laser - eBay (item 220281822768 end time Sep-22-08 07:05:29 PDT)

I guess all cockpits will be equiped with these in the future.

Oh dear!!

This is how dangerous it is!!

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4...indoxp7.th.jpg

ImageShack - Hosting :: [email protected]

Good one theothersimon, thanks for the headsup on lasers :ok:

Just curious about laser attacks.
Would take one good sniper to put (what distance are we talking about) a beam into the pilots eyes? 500-1500m. Please don't crucify me on this post,

I can't comprehend some kid using a 'pen pointer ' causing all so much disruption.

dazdaz,
You have totally missed the point, as have several other posters here.
These are NOT "pen pointers", but l@zers with over a hundred times the power.
We're talking about the kind used for "l@zer light shows", and for professional applications, such as l@zer marking, and industrial laser cutting.
They are feckin' dangerous when not used under controlled conditions.

Unfortunately, they are still being sold as toys!

A local gentleman here has just been fined $1,000 for playing with a laser. He pointed it first at a Jazz flight (Dash 8), and then at a police helicopter that was sent to search for the source of the laser. Didn't think that one through very far. This one wasn't on final approach, but the Dash 8s do come over here relatively low.

Calgary laser flasher gets $1,000 fine

On the face of it, this would "appear" to be a new report today of 2 fresh incidents at Edinburgh....
Exclusive: Police hunt after pilots are blinded with lasers at Edinburgh Airport - The Daily Record

Unfortunate foresight
 

I am hardly blaming the chap for being ( for me ) a generally great author, but it's a sad fact that Tom Clancy foresaw both using hijacked airliners as weapons, and deliberately crashing airliners with a Pilot Incapacitation Laser.

I was going to say the 'authorities' had better start thumbing through his backlist to see what other ideas the nutters think worth a try.

Then I remembered ' The Sum of All Fears' ... For those of you who haven't tried it, the story of acquiring a 'mislaid' aircraft Nuke and transporting it by land to a major stadium & population centre.

I doubt the nuts, be they misguided idiots high on cider, or terrorists, are going to find that one easy, so might be worth looking what other schemes Mr.Clancy thought up.

The ironic thing of is course he is a really patriotic guy, I suspect he'd shoot himself rather than influence one attack; his whole message is pro-defence - also though the lack of political will to supply it until too late.

Just pointing out a trend ?

The man.. (ok he was 19 but so are many soldiers) aimed a laser at an aircraft. he then tried to blind the crew of the police helicopter who were dispatched to try to find him. This isnt high spirits hes an arsehole who knew exactly what he was doing. He also has not had a job, ever... so he just thought he would liven things up by trying to cause an aircraft crash. Hes in court next month and I hope he gets a custodial sentance.