About time - Aussie gets Gaol for lasering Pol-Air

Usually "stupid" will grow up and become "smarter" too bad it doesn't always work that way heck look at this guy did:crackup:

lasersbee said:

Wasn't that "you can't fix stupid"....

At least you can give "stupid" enough time to think
about it why he is in the pickle he is in..
Maybe he'll figure it out if you give him enough time...

Slapping morons like that on the wrist is not serious
enough to hold the other morons at bay...
Examples are GOOD....:gun:

Jerry

Click to expand...

Here is the US version. This fellow is a FORMER (now) AT&T fiber optic technician. Ie Laser safety trained. They held him without bail for a long time, asked for 15 years, got 4 as part of the plea bargin, and the judge knocked it down to time served and a felony probation. The guy had a great, high paying, cushy laser job, plus a deep background check for security, and he kissed it all goodbye. You would be suprised who contributed to his defense, and the magnitude of his legal costs. Just try getting a good job with a federal felony record, in the US. It aint easy. He lost the right to vote and own firearms, as well.

Quote:

The Banach Incident

The U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, successfully prosecuted a Parsippany, New Jersey, man for pointing a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft on final approach to Teterboro Airport. (4) On December 29, 2004, a green laser (significantly more powerful than a red one and readily available for less than $120) was pointed into the cockpit of a charter aircraft with six passengers. The windscreen and cockpit were illuminated three times during final approach with the aircraft traveling at a speed of approximately 250 knots and an altitude of about 3,000 feet. Both pilots were disoriented and temporarily lost their night vision.

Two days after the incident, the pilots accompanied investigators in a Port Authority helicopter aerial surveillance flight to ascertain the laser location based on where the charter aircraft was at the time of illumination. During the helicopter's flight, it also was illuminated by a green laser, which led authorities to the home of David W. Banach. Mr. Banach denied intentionally aiming a laser at the aircraft, claiming first that his 7-year-old daughter was responsible and then later that he was using the laser to point out stars to the child on the night of the initial charter aircraft illumination.

During subsequent interviews, Mr. Banach recanted his explanation implicating his daughter and admitted to shining the beam at the helicopter and at the charter aircraft. No charges were filed for the helicopter incident because it was not considered a mass transit vehicle.

Mr. Banach was charged with three counts under the Patriot Act, Title 18, Sections 1993, 1001, and 1002. Under count 1, Interference with Pilots of an Aircraft, he faced a potential sentence of 20 years in prison. The Advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines allowed for a range of 18 to 24 months. As the guidelines were nonbinding, the judge imposed a sentence of 2 years' probation. U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie stated, "We accept the sentence imposed on Mr. Banach,... the needs of justice and deterrence had to be balanced. At no time did we believe Mr. Banach was involved in terrorism or that he should face 20 years in prison. Nonetheless, his conduct posed an immediate threat to innocent lives ... and Mr. Banach now stands as a convicted felon. Everyone is now on notice: anyone considering such purposeful conduct can expect the full weight of federal prosecution and a potentially lengthy prison sentence." (5)

End Quote.

IIRC that wasn't the only incident involving lasers and teterboro airport...

If anything though, Banach should have received a much harsher sentence as he was aware of what a laser is, and what it is capable of doing.

As such imo his violation is significantly greater than that of the dumb@$$ in the OP.

Aw, c'mon guys... it was just a funny joke!

The main danger is at night, in aircraft without external night sight like a tads/pvs assembly the pilot uses pvs-7 goggles or something like that, a laser hit to them will make the thing flashout and show tv fuzz for a minute blinding the pilot, it would not take much.

If you have any night vision you can test this, stand 400m away and have some one shine it at you, no more night vision for a few minutes, it may even kill some cheap NVS, and in case of FLIR or external optics, the aircraft has optics from hell and could refocus quite a bit of the beam and mess up a 4 million $ FLIR or at least mess up the temp of the ir sensor then the pilot would have to wait for his cooler to give his contrast back.

During the day I would not do anything but maybe set off a sensor letting them know they are being lased, as some AA uses lasers to track targets. This is worst case though, most likely nothing will happen and the pilot would not even know if his craft was hit with a puny pointer.