I Got Lasered

Aeric

Aeric

Line Up and Wait
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Aeric
So tonight after shimming up the nosewheel axle nuts to get rid of the wheel bearing play, I decided to wait until legal nighttime to test the airplane out and extend night currency. On the second upwind, while dutifully turning 10-15 degrees to the right for noise abatement I noticed what looked like a green strobe off to my left out of the city of East Palo Alto. A ha! So that's what it looks like. It wasn't as bad as some of the reports I've read, however I do believe that it has the potential to temporary blind a pilot. In this case it was a bit of a distraction. Interestingly, the tower instructed me to make left traffic on the next circuit to accommodate incoming traffic and I was now kinda worried about being shot at (you gotta know EPA).
Can anybody else relate a laser incident?
 
May I suggest filing an ASRS report? Perhaps NASA can get involved in compiling statistics on this thing.
 
Aeric said:
So tonight after shimming up the nosewheel axle nuts to get rid of the wheel bearing play, I decided to wait until legal nighttime to test the airplane out and extend night currency. On the second upwind, while dutifully turning 10-15 degrees to the right for noise abatement I noticed what looked like a green strobe off to my left out of the city of East Palo Alto. A ha! So that's what it looks like. It wasn't as bad as some of the reports I've read, however I do believe that it has the potential to temporary blind a pilot. In this case it was a bit of a distraction. Interestingly, the tower instructed me to make left traffic on the next circuit to accommodate incoming traffic and I was now kinda worried about being shot at (you gotta know EPA).
Can anybody else relate a laser incident?
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It would be a shame if a laser-impaired pilot lost control and spun into the laser owner's home.
 
Knowing East Palo Alto, that laser was likely attached to the muzzle of an AK.
 
Don't let your ho hum experience be your guide.
Our airport is different from most. The approach end of 23 is right at the road. You need to be aware of semi trucks going by if you drag it in too low.
Cars often park on the shoulder and take pictures as the planes come past them within 50 feet. Kids wave (I wave back)

I got lasered right there one night just as I reached the road Green laser. Total loss of depth perception in my left eye and the runway lights were gone - and ghosting in my right eye with the runway lights just being barely visible. I landed the plane with peripheral vision like my taildragger days.
Did a fast taxi to the ramp, jumped out and ran for my truck. I assume they saw me when the vehicle lights went on. I roared out of the airport and around the perimeter roads to where they were, roughly 1.5 miles. When I got there they were just faint tail lights disappearing in the far distance (in my right eye) still nothing on the left.
I cooled down enough that I did not go roaring down the road after them waving the 9mm. It was hours before the left eye recovered sharp vision.

The odds are that someday a pilot will crash because he is blinded - and the NTSB report will say the pilot failed to maintain control for unknown reasons.
 
Dr. O said:
Don't let your ho hum experience be your guide.
Our airport is different from most. The approach end of 23 is right at the road. You need to be aware of semi trucks going by if you drag it in too low.
Cars often park on the shoulder and take pictures as the planes come past them within 50 feet. Kids wave (I wave back)

I got lasered right there one night just as I reached the road Green laser. Total loss of depth perception in my left eye and the runway lights were gone - and ghosting in my right eye with the runway lights just being barely visible. I landed the plane with peripheral vision like my taildragger days.
Did a fast taxi to the ramp, jumped out and ran for my truck. I assume they saw me when the vehicle lights went on. I roared out of the airport and around the perimeter roads to where they were, roughly 1.5 miles. When I got there they were just faint tail lights disappearing in the far distance (in my right eye) still nothing on the left.
I cooled down enough that I did not go roaring down the road after them waving the 9mm. It was hours before the left eye recovered sharp vision.

The odds are that someday a pilot will crash because he is blinded - and the NTSB report will say the pilot failed to maintain control for unknown reasons.
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Ouch, not good and sorry to hear that. I do believe there is potential for a lot more than what happened to me. What really bothers me about last night is that there was a person holding the laser, wilfully and deliberately aiming a dangerous light beam at someone operating an aircraft.
 
Tony_Scarpelli said:
There used to be notes flying into Tamiami, FL gun shots at small aircraft on East end......
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Ha..... I used to live next to Tamiami for a few years.... To the south BTW.;)

Of course that was back when it was out in the middle of nowhere and the only thing east was a couple of gravel pits owned by Sterling Crushed Stone..

Oh........ Those were the good ol days:yes:
 
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In case you haven't seen it before, here is another incident of someone in California shining a green laser at an aircraft:



 
Do the people doing that know it could blind the pilot? Or are they just futzing around to see if the beam goes far enough to see a plane?
 
MassPilot said:
In case you haven't seen it before, here is another incident of someone in California shining a green laser at an aircraft:



Click to expand...

Normally I don't like cops, but I like what they did in that video.
 
At first I thought they were saying "Sac Arrow" as the callsign. Pretty sure it was Sac Air though.
 
I've been hit by a laser quite a few times. Unfortunately, due to the speed (or lack thereof) and size, people find it quite easy to initially hit us, then some even figure out how to track us and keep the laser on us. It sucks
 
I wonder how these folks would like it if aircraft started lasering them back. :devil:
 
Palmpilot said:
Yeah, because the whole state is just like East Palo Alto. :rolleyes:
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Whole state goes that way, don't be in denial about it. Ironically East Palo Alto itself was gentrified quite a bit after IKEA was built. They had the murder crown for a couple of years, but Oakland retook it now.
 
Interesting number of police vehicles and personnel that were required to make that arrest, must have been a slow night for crime.

-John
 
John221us said:
I guess this is because they don't have green lasers in Wyoming? Did you guys outlaw them?
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No, it's because antelope and moose can't operate lasers, and the people there have better thing to do like try to stay warm and build things that throw snow to Nebraska...:rofl:
 
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