Got hit by a laser, last night. Central Oklahoma.

P

Psgpilot

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
10
Display Name
Display name:
Psgpilot
Deleted.
 
Last edited:
Yikes! I've always wondered what the heck people thought they were doing when they hit an aircraft with a laser.

Hopefully something comes of this. Did you have any trouble flying while being hit?
 
Hopefully karma will bite these worthless scumbags in the ass, and they'll die some horrible death.

I have zero sympathy or tolerance for somebody who would laser a plane. There's a special level in hell for such scumbags, and hopefully they end up there very soon.
 
I've had it happen twice. The second time I simply turned all my lights off and the problem disappeared. I turned them on 5 minutes later.
 
We need one in the fifty gigawatt range we can fire back. :yes:


images
 
Last edited:
LoneAspen said:
Hopefully karma will bite these worthless scumbags in the ass, and they'll die some horrible death.

I have zero sympathy or tolerance for somebody who would laser a plane. There's a special level in hell for such scumbags, and hopefully they end up there very soon.
Click to expand...

Wow relax! It could just be a young kid that doesn't know better, not thinking it will effect someone or many people of course..
 
...makes you want to mount a hellfire in a pod under a wing and add a 'fire' button next to your PTT one. :) Hope this POS gets caught.
 
My CFI saw one the other night during a night XC.. He told me about a time he reported one and saw law enforcement scramble on the ground and actually catch the guy doing it.
 
Pardon my ignorance.
So we are talking about those dollar store laser pointers?
Can those really do anything from 1000s of feet away?

Surely not. The odds of someone being able to focus it on your eyeball with pinpoint accuracy for long enough to do damage seems impossible.

Again, I have not had it happen so I am talking out of school here but is this a real concern?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Pardon my ignorance.
So we are talking about those dollar store laser pointers?
Can those really do anything from 1000s of feet away?

Surely not. The odds of someone being able to focus it on your eyeball with pinpoint accuracy for long enough to do damage seems impossible.

Again, I have not had it happen so I am talking out of school here but is this a real concern?
Click to expand...

Many of the stories I've read are the green ones that have a very long reach. One example I found on the net advertises 11,600 meters. That's over 7.2 miles!

Some advertisements indicate the intended use is during astronomy field work where the instructor might use the laser to show the class where to look to see the celestial object under discussion. Unfortunately, the unwashed and less enlightened use them to illuminate aircraft.
 
mattg said:
My CFI saw one the other night during a night XC.. He told me about a time he reported one and saw law enforcement scramble on the ground and actually catch the guy doing it.
Click to expand...

About the only plug for police brutality I'd ever make...I hope they beat the crap out of the guy to the point he has brain damage.

Seriously..I have zero respect for anybody who would do this. Anybody caught doing this should be shot on the spot.
 
Seriously..I have zero respect for anybody who would do this. Anybody caught doing this should be shot on the spot.
Click to expand...

So you find a 7yr old kid who doesn't know better. Still happy with your plan?

There's a difference between deliberately attempting to blind someone and shining a light up to a far away object, wondering if it'll reach.
 
coma24 said:
So you find a 7yr old kid who doesn't know better. Still happy with your plan?

There's a difference between deliberately attempting to blind someone and shining a light up to a far away object, wondering if it'll reach.
Click to expand...

If the kid's that stupid, be a Darwin's Helper and kill him before he breeds. :rolleyes:

-Rich
 
Psgpilot (and anyone else who gets "lased"), please please please fill out the FAA laser incident report here: http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/safety/report/laserinfo/

It is a big deal, the FAA no-kidding tracks this stuff and actually responds. This site allows them to establish trends, i.e. is there one idiot who consistently does this from one area?

Just some techniques, but if you are getting lased, you need to get your eyes - and the eyes of all passengers - inside the cockpit ASAP (don't go looking for the laser source), and make the report to ATC. If the laser is tracking you, consider momentarily reducing your lights as well.

And if you have any vision/headache issues afterwards, get checked out immediately.
 
Does anyone know if people have actually been caught and prosecuted for lasing a plane?

And if so, I wonder what the penalty was?

I'm betting most of it are kids who found Daddy's Tactical laser. If there are any mature adults doing it, they're either a moron, sociopath, or could be prosecuted as an act of terrorism if you want to stretch it and go there.
 
txflyer said:
Does anyone know if people have actually been caught and prosecuted for lasing a plane?



And if so, I wonder what the penalty was?



I'm betting most of it are kids who found Daddy's Tactical laser. If there are any mature adults doing it, they're either a moron, sociopath, or could be prosecuted as an act of terrorism if you want to stretch it and go there.
Click to expand...


http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/18/us/new-york-aircraft-lasers/
 
Allow non-military aircraft to be fitted with laser-seeking missiles (if there is such a thing), and I think the problem will go away quickly.

Until then, I think a case could be made that lobbing a few grenades at the source of the light was justifiable self-defense...

-Rich
 
Has anyone actually brought down an aircraft with a laser? From what I could find, there are around 4000 laser incidents each year involving aircraft, and not one has resulted in permanent damage to anyone or anything. Yes, the people who do this are stupid and should be caught, but seriously advocating they be punished as you guys say is ridiculous. Most of these people are teens who don't think they have anything better to do, and are screwing around. They're not trying to make planes fall out of the sky, and as far as I'm concerned, they have never succeeded in doing so. You're acting like they're shooting at us pilots with bazookas in a war zone.
 
I got lased once during a night landing about 10 PM. Vision went completely dim in my left eye (just a milky haze) and the right eye was obscured on the nasal side . It was like a silent explosion inside my head.
He/they were parked right at the edge of the road and the approach end of runway 23 and nailed me when I was a 100 feet up and right in front of them/him (never knew) This is a spot where people park to watch the planes. On weekends there are cars there frequently. Not so much at night.
I basically froze the controls and let the plane land itself straight ahead - I did come close to going off to the left side. Then I fast taxied to my hangar and jumped in my truck. I think I saw the tail lights disappearing down the rod when I got back to the spot but I was so near blind I gave it up. I was hot - and yes I was armed. Dunno what would have happened. It took hours for my left eye to get even close to normal and I had issues with dim light for a couple of months before I felt that I had recovered.
 
There are lasers you can buy for $200 that will cause permanent blindness with only a few seconds exposure. As Denny said this can cause serious and possibly permanent damage, to say nothing of a safe flight.
 
ebykowsky said:
Has anyone actually brought down an aircraft with a laser? From what I could find, there are around 4000 laser incidents each year involving aircraft, and not one has resulted in permanent damage to anyone or anything. Yes, the people who do this are stupid and should be caught, but seriously advocating they be punished as you guys say is ridiculous. Most of these people are teens who don't think they have anything better to do, and are screwing around. They're not trying to make planes fall out of the sky, and as far as I'm concerned, they have never succeeded in doing so. You're acting like they're shooting at us pilots with bazookas in a war zone.
Click to expand...

So being bored is a justification for endangering air traffic?

-Rich
 
I've been lit up by a green laser before, reported to approach controller when it happened. They want to know - airliners and others in the area can also be affected, and they generally alert law enforcement right away. In my case the controller broadcast warnings periodically to his traffic in case it happened again, so they'd be prepared.

It affected my vision on the flight, not permanently or badly, but it took time to recover night vision.

The green handheld laser pens can often be modified to output much higher power than off the shelf. Look around and you'll find videos of people burning stuff with them at closer distances. Eye damage take much, much less of the coherent light exposure.
 
tehmightypirate said:
There are lasers you can buy for $200 that will cause permanent blindness with only a few seconds exposure. As Denny said this can cause serious and possibly permanent damage, to say nothing of a safe flight.
Click to expand...

These lasers are very unlikely to cause permanent damage to anyone's eyesight. They can easily disorient and kill your night vision during night flights though. $20 cheap pin point lasers ARE capable of doing this.

Report all incidents of contact with lasers in the cockpit to ATC and Law Enforcement. If you are able to spot where the laser is coming from, even better. At least, if able, mark the location where you encountered the laser with GPS.
 
I know I'm late to the party as I don't check in often, but if you're hit we'll ask color, location (relative to you is just fine) and altitude you were hit. Please report it and we'll gladly inform law enforcement as well as broadcast warnings. I could be mistaken, but I believe SOP in most two pilot operations is to have the non flying pilot heads down so if the pilot flying is hit at least one crew member can see (I know most of this board are single pilot non professional GA, but these reports are absolutely useful to pilots in other realms as well). These things happen more frequently than you'd expect.

A couple of years back we had one and called the police who just happened to have an air asset in the vicinity and the moron lased the LEO. Long story short they caught the idiot and his sentencing made local news. There has been a drastic reduction in these events since.
 
Psgpilot said:
Does this happen more often than even us pilots ever hear about?
Click to expand...

FAA publishes numbers. Often in CALLBACK, the safety rag published monthly.

So "more often than us pilots ever hear about" probably isn't the question, but "more often than us pilots bother to go look up".
 
Pointing a laser at a helicopter is no joke. A pilot in a medical helicopter was seriously injured last night in Dallas when a laser illuminated the cockpit. Here is the story from FOX4:

"DALLAS - Someone pointed a laser into the cockpit of a helicopter Thursday evening, seriously injuring the co-pilot. Federal Aviation Administration officials confirmed it happened while the medical helicopter was transporting a patient to St. Paul Hospital in Dallas. It had to make an emergency landing at Dallas Love Field after a green laser blinded the co-pilot. The pilot remains hospitalized, unable to see out of his right eye. Police used Air One to search for a suspect, but so far have not made any arrests."

We have a fair amount of medical and police helicopter traffic over DFW on any given day and night. Medical helicopters are responding to emergencies and airlifting sick patients, police helicopters are assisting ground PD officers in pursuits, patrols, and searches. Civilian helicopters are out flying as well. It is just plain stupid to point lasers at these choppers. You may think its just a funny joke, but it is no joke to the helicopter pilot flying a critically injured accident patient to a trauma center or a flight tactical pilot and officer following the pursuit of a murder suspect! People, be smart!
 
From DFW Scanner website

"Pointing a laser at a helicopter is no joke. A pilot in a medical helicopter was seriously injured last night in Dallas when a laser illuminated the cockpit. Here is the story from FOX4:

"DALLAS - Someone pointed a laser into the cockpit of a helicopter Thursday evening, seriously injuring the co-pilot. Federal Aviation Administration officials confirmed it happened while the medical helicopter was transporting a patient to St. Paul Hospital in Dallas. It had to make an emergency landing at Dallas Love Field after a green laser blinded the co-pilot. The pilot remains hospitalized, unable to see out of his right eye. Police used Air One to search for a suspect, but so far have not made any arrests."

We have a fair amount of medical and police helicopter traffic over DFW on any given day and night. Medical helicopters are responding to emergencies and airlifting sick patients, police helicopters are assisting ground PD officers in pursuits, patrols, and searches. Civilian helicopters are out flying as well. It is just plain stupid to point lasers at these choppers. You may think its just a funny joke, but it is no joke to the helicopter pilot flying a critically injured accident patient to a trauma center or a flight tactical pilot and officer following the pursuit of a murder suspect! People, be smart!"
 
I doubt most incidents involve a deliberate attempt to injure a flight crew member. Since it is relatively anonymous and not a violent exercise, most of those involved in this behavior likely think they are pranking those on the plane and are completely unaware that they are creating an unsafe situation. We need to educate kids that this is dangerous and not to be taken likely. It's an insidious practice.
 
Before Lazers it was .22s and 30-30s.

Back in the day, the Lockheed flying club had a C140. Guy (member) took it out one nice day and flew around the hills in north GA. When he got back it had several bullet holes in it. :yikes:
 
bluerooster said:
Before Lazers it was .22s and 30-30s.

Back in the day, the Lockheed flying club had a C140. Guy (member) took it out one nice day and flew around the hills in north GA. When he got back it had several bullet holes in it. :yikes:
Click to expand...

That's different. If someone is shooting at you (even if it's a .22) they want to damage you in some way. When someone is pointing a laser it you, they are doing it because of stupidity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top