Delta co-pilot hurt by laser; smoke stalls another flight

[Ezlivin]

DALLAS (AP) — The co-pilot of a Delta Air Lines flight suffered eye injuries when a laser interfered with a commercial flight approaching Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.

< --snip -->

The FBI is investigating the laser incident, which occurred six miles southwest of the airport at about 9,000 feet.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2005-04-28-delta-incidents_x.htm

How is it humanly possible to strike a fast-moving target at 9,000 feet with a laser? That is nearly two miles high!

If the government wants us to believe that some crazy guy with a handheld laser pointer is doing this, then they take us for fools.

[Oreo]

1. The government can do it...

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/04/15/laser.warn/


but of course theirs are harmless

[whistle]

2. More like a laser type death-ray from another aircraft close to...

...commercial plane or a ground installation somewhere along the path or maybe on an orbiting satellite. That is if in fact the pilot did get hit with a laser type beam.

[Ezlivin]

4. Yes, how did the co-pilot know it was a laser?

Just because it's a brilliant light doesn't make it a laser. So how did the co-pilot determine this?

Or did someone else tell him that it was a laser?

[whistle]

14. Beats me, we just have to wait for the official reports along....

...with all of the speculations that will come forward.

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. Depends on angle

"How is it humanly possible to strike a fast-moving target at 9,000 feet "

Depends on your angle to the aircraft. If the individual is near the approach path and has a sight, it is not hard at all.

[Ezlivin]

5. Seriously?

Even though the aircraft was only at 9,000 feet, in order to get a good angle on the cockpit the source would have a much longer path, thus raising the question as to the power of this laser. (Handheld lasers could do nothing harmful at that distance.)

[Zen Democrat]

6. Aliens anyone?

[meganmonkey]

16. They get my vote

;)

[Jacobin]

7. A laser beam travels at the speed of light

A jetliner under 10,000 feet, travels at about 250 knots.

Why do people not want to believe this has happened and can happen?
What's the motivation?

[AnneD]

8. Practice...

for another trifecta or of a new weapon to shoot down an commercial air liner.

[City Lights]

12. That's my thought too.

No :tinfoilhat: needed.

[leftchick]

13. exactly...

This time they will be "Iranians" or Iranian technology that did it. Then on to Iran... :nuke:

[bobthedrummer]

9. This is a real x-file. The laser cult.

:tinfoilhat:

[lovuian]

10. There testing a weapon is right and seeing its distance

and this is always happening when the plane is getting ready to land

It makes you wonder about Wellstone crash

and the space shuttle coming in and then blowing up

Scary times!!!

[medeak]

11. Why is Delta being targeted?

This happened in Salt Lake City to Delta pilot last year.

[HereSince1628]

17. Maybe chance...it was called a "...night incident"

An airliner nearly two miles up...at night...wouldn't be easy to identify in the dark.

[medeak]

18. here is link to other delta pilot

injured eye...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040928-111356-3924r.htm

[bananas]

22. helicopter crew injured by laser from Russian boat

I just remembered this weird story from several years ago,
seems like it would be hard to aim a laser at a helicopter
from a boat, where both are moving.

http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/navyman.htm

Attorneys for a decorated U.S. Navy intelligence officer have told a federal court in Seattle that the crew of a Russian vessel believed on a spying mission intentionally fired a laser at a Canadian air force helicopter sent to photograph the ship, permanently injuring the officer and the pilot.

<snip>

[KittyWampus]

15. It'd Be Easy To Hit The Pilot.... BY NOT AIMING. If You Took The Laser

and made 'scribble' motions in the air towards the direction of the cockpit... you'd be very likely to get a least a few momentary 'hits'.

On the other hand, if you held your hand steady and tried to train it directly throught the window at a person, you'd be very unlikely to hit target.

[HockeyMom]

19. Local New York Radio this morning

Another sting operation of somebody trying to sell shoulder to air missles to an undercover agent posing as an Alqeada operative.

Don't know whether to believe all this or not. Wolf, wolf, wolf.

[localroger]

20. Here we go again

First, lasers much more powerful than laser pointers are fairly common and not hard to come by. Until recently there was a guy selling a 300 mW green hand-held battery powered laser by mail; this thing could burn a hole in a paper cup at close range. Although he replaced his sale offer with a disclaimer, fact is his product would have been perfect for this kind of mischief. Similar lasers are built into many machines which could be "liberated" by a suitably placed individual, and they aren't that expensive to buy.

Second, the laser beam spreads with distance. Thus, the 300 mW laser won't burn through a paper cup a mile away; but it WILL damage your retina if you look into it even briefly.

Third, the beam will be several feet across at such a large distance because most of these small lasers aren't perfectly collimated, so "hitting the target" of a person's eye is not so difficult, as getting the person's eye anywhere within the big circle will do.

Fourth, it is absolutely not that hard to hit something miles away with a hand-held laser; in the right conditions you can even see the beam and wave it like a great big sword. You can easily see the dot even miles away when the beam hits something; hell, you can see the dot of an ordinary sub-milliwatt laser pointer a mile away at night. If you were motivated enough to bolt your laser to a length of pipe opposite a telescopic sight, holding it on a plane for minutes at a time would be very easy.

I agree that this is something the gov't might misuse to justify more police stateism, but that does not mitigate the unpleasant fact that it really is a thing that can be done.

[Alpharetta]

21. NORAD testing lasers against pilots invading airspace

"On February 11 of this year an article detailed the development of a new system designed to interdict unauthorized passenger or commercial planes that had penetrated the airspace over the nation's capitol. The system? You guessed it: laser beams. "It's an attention-getter, but it's not blinding," a NORAD official said."It's not a distraction. So pilots can still focus on flying the aircraft without endangering anyone or themselves." And finally, on April 22 -- just days ago -- CNN "Technology" section ran a story headlined: "Lasers to warn pilots in restricted D.C. airspace." So here it is: the U.S. government was testing laser beams all along, despite their denials. The testing caused a minor panic that convinced pundits and air travelers that turbin clad idiots were trying to bring down our aircraft. An intelligence bulletin was even released to local police departments about the threat. Need more proof?"

From
http://www.thisisrumorcontrol.org/node/2108

[bananas]

23. That could be it

Seems like a good explanation to me.
That's an interesting website,
thanks.

On edit:
It occurs to me this could also be used for a
laser-targeted defense system,
if the pilot doesn't turn away then up goes the missile.