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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Some dumbass shined a laser at a helicoptor in Detroit






BowtieGuy

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I've been watching this story on the news, this happened real close to both of us, not good.
I'm glad they caught him, but incidents like really hurt the hobby! I really hope our members are a little bit smarter than this guy.
Thanks for sharing Jhop!

Edit: These incidents are more problematic when they happen near your home, since all the local law enforcement agencies will be on alert for everything laser related; don't want your good neighbors calling thr cops on you! :whistle:
 
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They want tougher laws, I think the laws are already tough but these idiots don't think they will be caught, so won't help.
 

Razako

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Why the hell are they pushing for new legislation? Didn't the existing laws already work to punish the idiot?
 
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They keep calling laser flashes an attack, most of these idiots have no clue how distracting the light is and the medical exams are all BS to make the offense appear worse, I am sure.
 

Razako

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They always say "and the pilot was taken in for a mandatory medical exam" to make the offense seem much scarier. Of course the media never mention how the pilot was found to be perfectly fine in the medical exam. By nature, our media system thrives of sensationalism and tries to make everything sound exceptionally scary to get views.
 
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Yep, riling up the masses, with all of this going on we need the government to protect us.... it's really a screwed up system of using fear to gain control. I don't agree with someone pointing a laser at aircraft because it can be a form of harassment, same as if someone was doing it to anyone anywhere, but they sure sensationalize the occurrence as an attack, as if someone were trying to cause a crash or something. You could cause problems in the landing phase, but would just about have to be at the end of the runway flashing them to do that. Taking off, not so much unless shooting strait down the runway at them. Of course, there are exceptions, the amount of power, the divergence and the distance all play into whether flashing an aircraft is serious or not. Most of these small little lasers which are "attacking" are merely annoyances.
 

Razako

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Nobody on this forum would be dumb enough to do such a thing......
Idk, I've seen some pretty dumb threads here where a guy wanted a laser for a college prank or other illegal uses.
 
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They can shut the lights off and hover rather quietly. You could hit one and never know it. Not saying that happened with this case idk but attack is a strong word.
 
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I hope not!

-Alex
People are pretty stupid! I show lasers to people and some are like, "what happens if you point it at that airplane?"

Glad you don't own one bro...is usually what I want to say.:eek:

Idk, I've seen some pretty dumb threads here where a guy wanted a laser for a college prank or other illegal uses.
One moron I saw on here wanted to cut zip ties with a laser to break into a friends apartment...like :wtf: dude calm down now.
 
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I think I might have accidentally flashed an airplane once, I was shooting my laser over the top of a mountain close to the horizon and then saw a white light coming in from the same place. Immediately turned my laser off, it was the landing lights of a commuter airline turbo prop airplane. Damn! After that I never allowed the beam to be low to the horizon. They could get hit with it before I even knew they were there, in this case I saw landing lights, normally aircraft don't turn those on until close to the airport, or maybe they did to show me they were there, I don't know, but I laid low for a long time using my laser outside after that.
 
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Radim

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Not lasers, these kind of people should be regulated. Unfortunately it is not possible. With laser, in car, even walking on streets they just do not care about the consequences of what they do. More regulation on lasers just punishes the responsible laser enthusiasts, but is unlikely to have any effect on those who wants to shine lasers on aircrafts, they would not have any problem to get laser illegaly.

BTW I just wonder if there are statistics of what lasers are misused? I guess mostly common green pointers are probably to majority, not higher powers, which are likely to be regulated more.



I think I might have accidentally flashed an airplane once, I was shooting my laser over the top of a mountain close to the horizon and then saw a white light coming in from the same place. Immediately turned my laser off, it was the landing lights of a commuter airline turbo prop airplane. Damn! After that I never allowed the beam to be low to the horizon. They could get hit with it before I even knew they were there, in this case I saw landing lights, normally aircraft don't turn those on until close to the airport, or maybe they did to show me they were there, I don't know, but I laid low for a long time using my laser outside after that.

Oh, Alaskan, I'm always nervous about experiencing something like this. Last time I was photographing there were so many planes in the sky, I most of the time prepared the setup and than just switch laser off as some aircraft was nearby. In addition there was a small plane still around - probably student with instructor training night approaches to runway and it was not visible in FlightRadar. But my beam was directed much higher than area of that plane, very diffused through sphere and branches of trees and switched off when the aircraft was around plus some time more to be sure.

However I think static beams are not as much problem compared to intentional and repeated hits of an aircraft. Of course might not be case in some special conditions like plane more less in line towards source.
 

Razako

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Not lasers, these kind of people should be regulated. Unfortunately it is not possible. With laser, in car, even walking on streets they just do not care about the consequences of what they do. More regulation on lasers just punishes the responsible laser enthusiasts, but is unlikely to have any effect on those who wants to shine lasers on aircrafts, they would not have any problem to get laser illegaly.

BTW I just wonder if there are statistics of what lasers are misused? I guess mostly common green pointers are probably to majority, not higher powers, which are likely to be regulated more.
In my entirely unsubstantiated opinion, I'd probably say that >90% of these 'laser attacks' involve some idiot with a cheap laser 301/303, a cheap ebay penlaser, or one of those sub $50 'aircraft aluminum burning military' ebay lasers. It's actually crazy just how cheap these things have gotten. A laser 301 is a pretty decent laser(capability wise), and it's like $8 shipped. Green penlasers can be had for like $2 sometimes. Green lasers have reached price levels where even the biggest idiots of society can buy one like they would buy a freaking hamburger or something. I feel like if they were $40-50 at minimum we would probably see something like a 75% decrease in these 'laser attacks'.

The people who invest the money in buying quality lasers are generally educated enough to know why pointing at planes and helicopters is stupid.
 
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