Lasers on the news

I'm not sure if anyone has seen the news lately but I saw a news piece about an airplane pilot who got hit in the eyes by a laser. The news went on to talk about how the majority of flight related laser incidents is the highest in Texas. I wonder if that is because Texas is a large state with a large population and therefore has a larger chance for a mishap to occur. This is not the type of media coverage our passion or hobby, depending who you're talking to, needs.

Stay safe our there and don't point your beams at anything you don't intend to damage.

kotootl said:

I'm not sure if anyone has seen the news lately but I saw a news piece about an airplane pilot who got hit in the eyes by a laser. The news went on to talk about how the majority of flight related laser incidents is the highest in Texas. I wonder if that is because Texas is a large state with a large population and therefore has a larger chance for a mishap to occur. This is not the type of media coverage our passion or hobby, depending who you're talking to, needs.

Stay safe our there and don't point your beams at anything you don't intend to damage.

Click to expand...

This is most unfortunate everytime an incident like this makes the news, furthermore it only gives idiots ideas and may give terrorists ideas to try.

I would have expected these type of incidents to be highest in California since it has a larger population, and as I recall a higher percentage of obnoxious people than does Texas (am not referring to any LPF members), however it's been some years now since I last visited either state. Had family in both states. My parents were from Texas.

You are correct about Texas being a large state, only California has a larger population, so it's likely that it would be one of the two that would have the most such laser incidents. Texas is 2nd not only in population but in area as well.

Alan

I was reading an article about UFO hunters flashing lasers at what they believe to be alien craft, some of them very well might be, but if you are wrong and flash at a airplane you have just committed a felony, get caught and you will have a very regretful experience. I think I have a solution to eliminate the flash blindness problem of visible lasers for those interested in such things, with normal divergence and low power, only aimed at high altitude "UFO's", if they truly were alien ships from other worlds, they could conceivably be able to see the signal from a low power IR laser without danger to our pilots.

Regardless, my advice is to never aim a laser of any kind at anything flying up there, infrared or not. I saw a video of one individual who used a laser to signal what he thought was a UFO and instead of pointing at it, he circled it to get its attention. Better, but even that could be considered a laser attack, since it is also illegal to point a laser in the path of an aircraft. Not worth the risk, but you could reduce it by going to IR at low enough power levels. I'm writing this because there are a growing number of individuals who are doing this kind of thing.

What could be a low enough power level at a divergence of 3 mRad or higher (which is typical for many infrared laser pointers), to be safe at a distance of 500, 1000, 10,000, 20,000 ft and even higher between 800-1500nm? I don't know. Safest is zero. Best not to do it, instead use high power focused LED,s and wish upon a star you will be seen. Reality is, most anything you see up there probably isn't extraterrestrial anyway.

All of the above said, I myself am keenly interested in this subject and the possibility of such craft visiting the earth, don't have a tin hat though...

Since it is illegal to shine a laser at or in the path of any aircraft, I wonder if a UFO would be exempt from this? I suspect some law enforcement personnel and prosecutors wouldn't think so.

Alan

I don't think it would be illegal to point a laser at a alien craft, but pointing at anything flying without really knowing what you are pointing at could be, certainly if it was a jet or airplane, hot air balloon or any other conventional man made craft. For a problem with the law there would have to be a complaint to be convicted, but I haven't seen any extraterrestrial aliens filing any complaints with the police or our court system yet.

Astronomers use low power greenies to point at stars all the time and as far as I know, none of them have been convicted for accidentally flashing an airplane. However, I suppose someone could accidentally flash an aircraft when doing astronomy too, I have a cousin who claims he accidentally flashed a helicopter once when trying to turn off a street light and was convicted of laser attacking the aircraft, regardless. The idea of accidentally flashing an aircraft spooks me, I thought I might have done that once and I was laying low on the use of my laser pointer for awhile.

I am also waiting to find out if pointing a laser at a drone is illegal or not. The subject of aliens also raises another question too. I have always worried that if aliens ever landed here that the first one walking down the ramp might get shot like in that old movie "The day the earth stood still", maybe they will be smart enough to land someplace like Japan where there are no firearms at all. Now if someone did shoot and kill an alien would they be legally guilty of murder? Or maybe not, because murder only applies to humans?

Alan

As far as I know, there are no laws against shooting aliens but there are laws against shooting a big foot, strange enough. I don't think it is regulated yet, but for those who might laugh at this subject, there are federal laws against US citizens having willful contact with extraterrestrial aliens, even the military has published rules regarding such. I would hope ET would be smart enough not to allow themselves to become prey to anyone with a gun, I know several individuals who would shoot one on sight to be able to claim the body and make money off of the encounter, if they could. Lots of luck with that idea, if you did there would be black vehicles showing up at 3 AM to take you away as well as your prize, I imagine. An ET body would also be a potential biological threat, not something to mess with.

Drones ought to be fair game if one of those privately owned toys, for the big ones the military owns they call UAV's (I used to work on their remote control systems), of course that's another thing, but I understand you weren't regarding those as drones, the UAV pilots hate them being called that too

It makes sense that the federal government would want to prohibit anyone else from contact with extraterrestrials. I guess if a person was an abductee then they could claim no willful contact.

By drones I wasn't speaking of those privately owned toys but of the ones beginning to be used by state and county governments and by law enforcement. Nothing like the big UAV's the military uses but not toys either.

Alan

My thought is it would be illegal to flash them, they use camera's on board to do their jobs snooping on us as well as to land the aircraft, God forbid their camera was damaged and the thing later crashed because they couldn't land it. It would probably be illegal on a general law of interfering with law enforcement etc.

some corrections
if its aircraft AND intentional is a Fed Offence no longer 'just' a felony
and there is a sizeable reward for turning in a laser on aircraft idiot.

personally I would not assume any craft was alien- ALL that you dont recognize are UFOs.. one would feel even MORE like an idiot if, in court, your defense was 'it looked like a UFO'

The leader in incidents has been in the past BOTH Houston/DFW and LA- FDA sez 10 laser on aircraft reports average per DAY.

Profile of common offender is : teen or early 20s- white & male.
Most common new forum member is the same /afaik/

We have an on-going thread on all this and more in the 'welcome' section please check it out and post yr thoughts this will help the thread stay current.

for history and new arrests including the punishment go to laserpointersafety.com

find the list of punsihments and read what they said after. not funny.

some have been pasted in that thread -feel free to post/paste any new ones.

if you are not part of the solution ...your ARE part of the problem.

I agree, UFO means nothing, that's no defense... either way, federal offense, felony, I don't care which, even if the legal ramifications are worse, I don't need any of that, not even a warning, in fact, as a pilot myself, I'd be pissed at anyone doing such much less even contemplate flashing an airplane myself and from that, I don't need to be up to speed on the new laws as they don't deter me, I wouldn't do it anyway. However, consider this; someone could be accused of intentional, as my cousin was, and had no intention or knowledge of having flashed an aircraft but be charged and convicted of it just the same, as he was.

From reviewing all of this online tonight from several different outlets, it appears dangerous to point a laser into the sky at any time or any place (yes, myself guilty of pointing into the sky many times), you could be in for trouble without even knowing it. For those who intentionally flash a "UFO" but hit a conventional aircraft, I can see it now: but sir, I didn't know what kind of flying object it was, so I thought it was OK to flash it just in case it was a flying saucer...

Related:

http://www.openminds.tv/pilots-wary-ufo-hunters-laser-pointers/25725

http://specialoperation.military.co...trikes-a-growing-hazard-in-sky/2149168087001/

There is no simple solution-

here is that other (& lengthy) thread- some of the ideas in the first few pages were not the best-
http://laserpointerforums.com/f37/anyone-owning-pointer-larger-read-90838.html

here is a poster that might be good in your sig
I am putting it in mine asap

I'm betting, if flashing aircraft becomes a bigger problem and keeps growing, at some point, it will become illegal to point any laser in the sky if within some circumference of any city within the USA, it already is within 10 miles of any airport, although I had conflicting information from the FAA, one FAA employee told me 5 miles, another 10 and a power limitation too, of course, we already have a power limitation.

I was pointing one of my better lasers into the sky towards the mountains for a few minutes a few weeks ago and went inside, 30 minutes later (later learned) the police showed up knocking at my door, I didn't see they were there but with all the bell ringing and knocking for 5 minutes I wasn't about to open the door to see but I assumed it was something to do with one of my favorite activities; lighting up the night sky with 445nm. They left their calling card in my door and the next day I started talking to a lawyer to have them contact them, as not to incriminate myself for any wrong doing, as I went about to see if I had actually broken any law, which technically, as far as I knew I hadn't but that didn't relieve my concern, what if an aircraft reported it and I had no idea I bothered anyone? Later I found a police officer was at my door looking for a man who had shot someone that lived near me.... all of that over something that had nothing to do with me... I'm not so favorable to be playing around with the laser at night as I once was, even though it didn't turn out to be what I thought it was all about, it did bring about a better understanding of the law regarding the use of lasers in the city I live in, as I scrambled to be sure I was within the law using my laser.

The reason I didn't answer my door is, if it was the police, I knew how much a problem they can be, they can legally lie to you to get you to incriminate yourself, I didn't even want to take a chance of saying anything to them and if it wasn't them, I didn't want to have to deal with whoever it was banging so loudly, quietly staying in my bed the whole time the door knocker was there. If any one of you are ever questioned by police about anything you have done, never, never answer them, don't say yes, don't say no, tell them to talk to your lawyer, or that you will have your lawyer contact them later. If arrested, don't say anything, nothing, except to talk to your lawyer but be very pleasant about it, it is even more important you don't talk to them then. More and more often today police officers are too predatory, viewing any suspect as their hunted game if investigating something and if you make a wrong move, could end up dead, as many innocent people do every year, hundreds of them in the USA.

hakzaw1, I Like your photo I have so much stuff in my signature now it won't let me add one more word!

I'm surprised there was so much interest. It seems that a few of the members here have quite the knowledge on the subject. Hakzaw is correct in his confirmation of Texas leading in offenses of laser related incidents.

Oh, I just remembered something. A few months ago when my father came to visit I showed him my laser collection. Keep in mind he is in his 50's. I gave him the typical warning about lasers and what not to point at. So there we are sitting in the back yard pointing at stars and admiring the different colored beams. All of a sudden we see an aircraft in the distance and I immediately said "don't point at the plane". RIGHT AS HE STARTS MOTIONING TOWARDS THE PLANE!. Luckily the timing was right and he stopped before he hit the plane. Even "wise old" people act like kids with lasers.

Best not to flash the sky with laser pointers at all, you could be found guilty of intentionally pointing at an aircraft which to you, was too far away to see.