Just want to rant...

My, oh my...How the world is full of straight-up ignorant people...Some of you may have read some of these before, as some are kind of old, but this is aimed more at the immature kids (and sometimes adults it seems) that make the stupid comments on the forums and youtube videos that just screams "I will shine a laser at a plane".
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There have been 105 reported laser sightings at Canadian airports since 2005, with 70 being recorded in the past year.

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*Here's a main-contributing douchebag*
In 2005, David Banach, a 38-year-old New Jersey man, was charged under US anti-terrorism laws for pointing a laser at an aircraft that startled a pilot as he was landing.
Later, the pilot rode with local police in a helicopter so he could show them from where he thought the beam originated. During the search, the suspect Banach pointed the beam at the helicopter. Police immediately arrested him and he became the first person charged and sentenced under the US Patriot Act for pointing lasers at planes.

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Monday, July 7, 2008
A Calgary man charged with endangering a flight by shining a laser beam into the cockpit of an Air Canada flight has been fined $1,000.

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November 2008
A court in French Polynesia has sentenced a man to 15 days in jail for pointing a laser at an aircraft. The incident happened last month when the man pointed the laser at an Air Tahiti plane.

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Tue Sep 11, 2007
Police are investigating the shining of a green laser light into the cockpit of a plane landing at Brisbane airport.
The offence attracts a sentence of up to two years jail and a $5,500 fine.

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Why it's hard to get a laser through Australian Customs:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,24429508-3102,00.html?from=public_rss

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If I am ever next to someone and I see them shine a laser in the direction of a plane, I don't care what color/power it is, they're getting punched in the face and getting reported to the authorities. Everyone who is safe and has common sense should be able to enjoy the fun of high powered laser pointers, without having to mark a package as gift-computer accessories because of people like the above mentioned in the article clips. If you're shining a high powered greenie at an aircraft cockpit, you might as well be on the plane behind the pilot with your hands cupped around his eyes. STOP BEING STUPID!

I feel like playing advocatus diaboli at this point.

Let's see, just WHY is pointing a laser at a plane dangerous?

A typical laser beam has a divergence of 1mrad, i.e. 1:1000 aperture. In one km distance, the beam has a diameter of 1 Meter. That means that even from a 250mW laser, less than 10 uW (Microwatt!) will hit the eye (I assume it's dark). That makes it clearly visible but not blinding. Maybe someone can do a test?

In a distance of 100 Meters, you would get 100 times the intensity - about 1mW into a dark-adapted eye. Definitely blindingly bright - loosely speaking; it's not actually damaging, and the pupil contraction would quickly reduce the intensity by a factor of 10. Beam diameter at that point: 10 cm. You could just barely hit both eyes at the same time, if you aim well.

However, try pointing a laser at a fastmoving target and keep it pointed correctly, to within 1 mrad. Not possible! All the pilot sees is a short flash - blink, gone. The closer the plane, the higher the intensity but the shorter the flash. At 180 km/h, you'd be travelling at 50m/s, so in one km distance the duration would be on the order of a few dozen Milliseconds. Unless, of course, the plane is coming directly at you... in which case the laser should be the least of your worries.

So, pointing even a high-power laser ("burner") at someone hundreds of meters distant is a nuisance but definitely not dangerous. The real problem is that authorities and judges have a vague feeling of "Lasers? That's star wars weapons! They use them to shoot down rockets! Horribly dangerous! Let's put him in the can before he goes on a rampage and vaporizes people!!" and they will eye you (yes, you!) with the same suspicion, no matter how nice you promise to be.

If you feel like I'm advocating shining lasers at planes, you haven't understood my intention. Anyway I'm curious what responses there are

@ dr-ebert...

Between you and I... I believe you would agree... a plane loaded
with passengers... on final approach... even if it is not directly damaging  
to the eye... that a 250mW green laser is something that could possibly
distract  the pilot and possibly cause an accident...

If that is a possibility... then why not try to eliminate the direct cause...

(I'm talking about the moron pointing said laser.... not the Laser )

Jerry

Although education is the key to a better society, I think giving the idea that pointing a laser at a plane is not dangerous to a forum full of kids is very irresponsible. All the science in the world does not eliminate the fact it is not smart to point lasers at planes or anything else that could involve injury at any level. Or, at the very least get someone arrested doing it.

There are a lot of very smart people on this forum but for some reason many have a problem thinking outside of themselves. You cant project your personal morals and views on the general public. Just because one cant fathom why someone would do it, does not remove the fact that someone will do it.

With other words, "We have to protect people from themselves - for their own good; after all, they don't know better but we do"? You can justify a lot using that argument. Examples are easy...

Regarding the many kids on this forum. Why give them hi-power lasers at all? I'm not worried about planes here, their kid brothers and school mates are in much greater (and more real) danger of being really blinded. Any advocates here for allowing forum access only after an age check?

As far as I know, lasers above class I in the US require a keylock, a LED indicating whether they're on, and a turn-on delay. Got any of that on your lasers?

How was that about a splinter in your brothers eye...?

dr-ebert said:

With other words, "[highlight]We have to protect people from themselves - for their own good;[/highlight] after all, they don't know better but we do"? You can justify a lot using that argument. Examples are easy...

Click to expand...

I always thought that.. that was what laws were for.... :

Jerry

After that comment, I had to check your profile to see whether you're chinese or russian ;D

Yes and no. To have an intellectual discussion among similar intellects is one thing. To play devil's advocate about shinning lasers at plane in a public laser forum consisting of a mainly younger crowd is another. When you have kids involved it throws your argument out the door.

So, how about my points 2-4? Throw out the "lesser" intellects, so they will be even safer...

dr-ebert said:

After that comment, I had to check your profile to see whether you're chinese or russian  ;D

Click to expand...

Have you ever wondered why the speed limit in a curve is so low... :-?

It is not for the experienced driver to stay on the road (enter--> Responsible Laser Hobyist)...
but for the bad inexperienced driver (enter--> Laser pointing Moron) to be able to negotiate that curve...
That is a law to protect people from themselves... but it impacts the better driver as well.

And if the Laser pointing morons continue shinning their lasers at planes because they are too
ignorant to know the possible dangers involved... we will get a new law that forbids the use
of said lasers by everyone.... not just the morons..
That is protecting the moron from himself (his stupidity).... and you and I end up paying for it...IMHO

Jerry

dr-ebert said:

So, how about my points 2-4? Throw out the "lesser" intellects, so they will be even safer...

Click to expand...

You added that LOL
I agree completely. Complete lasers and parts to make complete lasers are pimped out to anyone with one post to their name. You don't know who any of these people are, but I guess when it comes to money no one cares.

EDIT: I'm going to make a lot of friends with that last statement  : but the thought of someone kid/animal loosing their site for the rest of thier lives kind of make me not care.

Edit2: I was being sarcastic in the first part LOL Hey those are big words you are using. You need to tone it down a little for my well burnt noodle to absorb:-?

Hm, we don't have speed limits just because there is a curve. Only if there is e.g. a sharp curve after a hump, so that not even a good driver can see it in time.

Yes, people should be educated about the dangers. I had hoped more for a discussion of what exactly is a danger? Read about a pilot's view here.

EDIT: yes, I put in those other points after a bit (while you were writing your post probably), I didn't want to trick you, in case it looks that way.

EDIT2: Your edit is rather difficult to parse semantically, and I'm not sure it says what I think it says. If it does, then we certainly have different views.

Good points, and about it not being dangerous from long distances, if someone is going to do it from far away, eventually they will do it when by an airport around take-off or landing time. NEVER underestimate stupid people. The dumbest person in the world CAN and WILL get dumber if given the right amount of time.

I resemble that remark...

Lol. It sounds like that australia incident is what engaged the hard core laser craze there too. If only you could send face punches via-first class mail. Life would be grand ;D

dr-ebert said:

As far as I know, lasers above class I in the US require a keylock, a LED indicating whether they're on, and a turn-on delay.

Click to expand...

It's actually only Class 3b and 4 that have those requirements.