Stop pointing lasers at planes! (on cnn news)

CNN video: Lasers aimed at planes 148 indents of lasers being pointed at planes so far this year according to CNN!   Please don't do this. Lasers will be banned in the US at this rate. I hope the idiots who do did this were caught and served 2 or more years jail time in state prison.  In Seattle in one night a dozen incidents reported of green lasers being pointed at planes!

No accidents have yet been based on lasers yet the potential exists because the high intensity beams can impair vision and distract the pilot. Trying to safely land an airplane and suddenly dealing with blindness or temporary blindness at an inappropriate time of flight. Because of the potential danger the FBI has made it a priority to investigate laser incidents.

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You don't hear of guns being shot off at planes don't do it with a laser! Hundreds of lives are at stake! This isn't', funny and it's messing with my new interest.

laser83 said:

CNN video: Lasers aimed at planes 148 indents of lasers being pointed at planes this year according to CNN!   Please don't do this. Lasers will be banned in the US at this rate. I hope the idiots who do did this were caught and served 2 or more years jail time in state prison.  In Seattle in one night a dozen incidents reported of green lasers being pointed at planes!

No accidents have yet been based on lasers yet the potential exists because the high intensity beams can impair vision and distract the pilot. Trying to safely land an airplane and suddenly dealing with blindness or temporary blindness at an inappropriate time of flight. Because of the potential danger the FBI has made it a priority to investigate laser incidents.

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You don't hear of guns being shot off at planes don't do it with a laser! Hundreds of lives are at stake! This isn't', funny and it's messing with my new interest.

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yeah, personally i am selfish and am more worried about them endangering my hobby than endangering the people on the plane.........but i'm an ***hole, either way it needs to stop!!

Mohrenberg said:

yeah, personally i am selfish and am more worried about them endangering my hobby than endangering the people on the plane.........but i'm an ***hole, either way it needs to stop!!

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Hey let's be civil please. I don't appreciate you putting words in my mouth. I have other forums for that type of "debate". If banning lasers would save a plane I'd gladly agree with it, don't misunderstand me. Let's not be factious please. The point is these stories are even being featured on mainstream news and rules will start to be put in place because of this kind of homicidal stupidity.

I'd like to blame kids but I'm old enough to know there are plenty of people in their 40s that would do this too.

Is there a way a laser's source could be detected? That's what's needed to stop this nonsense.

laser83 said:

[quote author=Mohrenberg link=1235490906/0#1 date=1235491037]yeah, personally i am selfish and am more worried about them endangering my hobby than endangering the people on the plane.........but i'm an ***hole, either way it needs to stop!!

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Hey let's be civil please. I don't appreciate you putting words in my mouth. I have other forums for that type of "debate". If banning lasers would save a plane I'd gladly agree with it, don't misunderstand me. Let's not be factious please. The point is these stories are even being featured on mainstream news and rules will start to be put in place because of this kind of homicidal stupidity.

I'd like to blame kids but I'm old enough to know there are plenty of people in their 40s that would do this too.

Is there a way a laser's source could be detected? That's what's needed to stop this nonsense.[/quote]

yeah i saw this on the news this morning too, it was in washington...like 10 planes in a 20 min period got flashed with a green laser by some idiot.
normally i wouldn't give a crap but when they do this it brings alot of attention and it's going to cause stricter laws for lasers.....
although it would be a pain...it wouldn't stop much.....unless they are going to ban dvd burners and blu-ray burners also.......

I think a ban on pointers would be fine- I couldn't care less (it actually exists already).
I'm just interested in Class IV lasers now. As long as the OEM components and lasers like Aries and RPLs can be imported (FDA approved) then I don't see an issue.
I'll bet that the majority of these incidents are caused by a 13-25 year old with a pointer from dealextreme.

The key here is to ENFORCE existing laws. Enforce the ban on importation of laser pointers that are not FDA approved.
I think it is good that the media covers this. It makes parents who watch the news more aware of what their kids are buying with their dad's credit card.

Well this sucks!

this have to stop! those idiots are going to stop our great hobby(way of life ) if they aren't going to stop pointing planes . They should think situation that they see plane falling down just because their ''funny'' pointings and next day news tells that plane crash kills 100 people.i don't think they feel so happy anymore

This is exactly what happened here. There were 4 people shinning lasers at airplanes and it got wide media coverage. Not long after there were more incidents in other states which attracted more media coverage and within a few months they were banned.

I was going to by a 50mW laser but then could'nt and now never can because of those loosers.

A green laser provides a visable green path to the source. A dozen hits ??? Where was law enforcement to track the source.
A gun is used to kill someone -- it's easier to ban guns (lasers) than get the ass***e doing it.
Hey -- lets ban pointers -- that's "reasonable" regulation and the first step in banning all lasers. As with guns throughout history -- regulation, registration, confiscation. That's the order of things when a populace can't use responsibility to govern itself.

Mike

Magel282 said:

This is exactly what happened here. There were 4 people shinning lasers at airplanes and it got wide media coverage. Not long after there were more incidents in other states which attracted more media coverage and within a few months they were banned.

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Somehow i guess its better NOT to have any media coverage of these events - it's more likely to give some idiot a bad idea to try than it is to make someone stop doing it.

A green laser provides a visable green path to the source.

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That depends a bit on power and atmosphere... A 50 mW beam shooting up from a roof can be very hard to see from the ground even standing next to that building. But i'm sure it would be possible to find the source with a little effort, such as observation from a tall building near the approach route they are shining at (the control tower seems obvious).

Hemlock Mike said:

A green laser provides a visable green path to the source.  A dozen hits ???  Where was law enforcement to track the source.  
A gun is used to kill someone -- it's easier to ban guns (lasers) than get the ass***e doing it.  
Hey -- lets ban pointers -- that's "reasonable" regulation and the first step in banning all lasers.  As with guns throughout history -- regulation,  registration,  confiscation.  That's the order of things when a populace can't use responsibility to govern itself.

Mike

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Yes it seems like an easy (piss weak) option for the government just to ban the item rather than deal with. I suppose the assumption in my country is that if they ban the import (which they have) then time will sort the problem out for them. No new lasers comming in = no new idiots to shine them at planes act. Eventually the current lasers in the country will break and problem solved. And all they had to do was write the law and sign the document. No enforcment, no crack downs or hunt downs on the offenders and resourses expended on the caputure on the offenders.

Well.. bans dont work that well. There was a good flow of lasers from DX to the states before paypal coerced them, despite the ban being around for god knows how long.

With the online trade being as large as it is, preventing any item entering a country is a daunting task - the sheer volume makes it hard to find offending shipments. Even automated scanning can prove frustrating there - its hard to tell a laser from a small flashlight by course x-ray inspection, let alone see the difference between a 1 and 100 mW.

RA_pierce said:

I think a ban on pointers would be fine- I couldn't care less (it actually exists already).
I'm just interested in Class IV lasers now. As long as the OEM components and lasers like Aries and [highlight]RPLs can be imported (FDA approved) [/highlight]then I don't see an issue.
I'll bet that the majority of these incidents are caused by a 13-25 year old with a pointer from dealextreme.

The key here is to ENFORCE existing laws. Enforce the ban on importation of laser pointers that are not FDA approved.
I think it is good that the media covers this. It makes parents who watch the news more aware of what their kids are buying with their dad's credit card.

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Last time I checked, RPLs are actually NOT, FDA approved. However, I believe the Hercules is, considering it does have all the safety requirements to be FDA approved.

Being FDA approved, or having all the necessary safety requirements, doesn't make lasers more "safe", or less harmful to the operator or influenced people, in my opinion, and are usually more of a haste then anything else. Even a gun doesn't have that many safety requirements. I believe there's the dongle delay switch (normally 3 sec.), key switch, armed LED indicator, and aperture shutter, please correct me if I'm wrong. Anybody could theoretically do all those steps and perform the aircraft attack... only those lasers are usually much more expensive therefore usually those with that kind of "spending money" have more sense not to do such a STUPID THING. So yes, in theory, the "cheap Chinese" imported lasers pose more of a chance getting into the hands of a... Laser Abuser.. (lets call the ass holes who do this negligent crime, among other stupid things) and thus pose a greater threat to who ever it may concern: the pilot and their passengers, or attacker, or the hobbyist. To prevent it, would I guess be up to the government to decide... as we know the importation of illegal fire arms and drugs still exist. What do you want them to do, have each and every laser be registered under law like guns are, to of which costs lots of money, because the only economically beneficial banning of anything like this, would be better off by making a law to give two felonies, 1 year min in prison, and tons of money fine for caring a "hot" laser? Check up on your federal gun baring laws.

Now, let me tell you readers my opinion of what the FDA really is. It is an organization/ program that monitors the import and export of unnecessary goods. To govern and control the amount of pleasure one may receive with physical objects, or substances. And to help keep the public safe and healthy is a byproduct. You can smoke cigarettes, but you can't smoke marijuana. I'm sure the majority of people, well maybe 1/2, will get more pleasure out of marijuana then they would a cigarette, I may be mistaken, I don't smoke........ cigarettes. ;D And to some, lasers are a drug, just ask my good friend John Lawson!

And now for my 3 cents, this is never going to stop. NEVER. NEVEREVER. NEVEREVEREVEREVER. IT'S NEVER GOING TO STOP. Just get over it, and be glad it isn't you cursed with such a stupid mind. Or be thankful that you don't mess with your lasers while being extremely drunk. And if it does stop, then our hobby will be pretty damn illegal by then. So relax. OK?

-Peace Ace

They will never totally get rid of the problem as a extremely high mW laser can be built at home easily. The stupid thing is that its not illegal to import the components to make a laser pointer. And yes I aggree it must be a daunting task to scan all the imports comming in. I have a 1mW laser comming in from china this week. It will be interesting to see if it gets through customs without inspection. My guess is that it wont with all the hype in the media here lately about lasers.

Magel282 said:

They will never totally get rid of the problem as a extremely high mW laser can be built at home easily. The stupid thing is that its not illegal to import the components to make a laser pointer. And yes I aggree it must be a daunting task to scan all the imports comming in. I have a 1mW laser comming in from china this week. It will be interesting to see if it gets through customs without inspection. My guess is that it wont with all the hype in the media here lately about lasers.

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I believe it depends on the company who's shipping your lasers. Last time I checked, you can easily get a laser from NOVA, and Optotronics, but I know that's not necessarily importing, if your in Canada or the USA.

The FDA is busy these days watching pet food, bad pharmacutical drugs and laser pointers to cover bad peanut butter. We need bigger government.

Mike