Virgin Atlantic Airways laser beam incident

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Gordy7

gordy7
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#191778 16-Feb-2016 11:06

Not nice...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11590209

Could aircraft be fitted with LCD shutters much like LCD welding masks to block high intensity light.

Perhaps aircraft could be made to fight back with auto detection high powered lasers or at least estimated GPS location devices of the source of the offending laser...

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Oblivian

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#1493120 16-Feb-2016 11:15

I'm disturbed why people still think its fun to do. And give those using them for astronomy a bad name

At the same time, I can't work out why it drew the need to return the entire plane rather than report it. I'm not sure if you have used one on a beach before in he sea spray, but by the time you are 100-200m+ down the track the beam spread gets rather large. To the point where the 'dot' can be .5-1m wide. The focusing lenses on elcheapos are just not that focused. The only real dazzleness I've found in the case of mine, is to stare down the beam to try and find the source. Then you might cop a couple of bright flashes, but its damn hard to pinpoint anything stable from a distance other than seeing the spread well enough to know OK, I'm on that object

empacher48

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#1493246 16-Feb-2016 14:06

Being a pilot and having been flying an aircraft which has been "struck" by a laser, it is probably the scariest thing I have experienced.

There is a very real risk if flying at night, being blinded by one will cause an accident.

Thankfully we were able to tell Air Traffic Control where the laser came from and the police were able to catch up with them. The downside the Justice department didn't want to use this opportunity to make an example for the rest of the scum who think this would be fun.

CitizenErased

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#1493254 16-Feb-2016 14:31

Oblivian:

At the same time, I can't work out why it drew the need to return the entire plane rather than report it.

According to the BBC report: The crew told air traffic control there was a "medical issue" with one of the pilots after the laser hit flight VS025 after take-off at 20:13 GMT on Sunday.

Dairyxox

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#1493273 16-Feb-2016 14:47

I was on the Rotorua Skyline gondola a couple of months ago and our carriage got lit up by a lazer about 1km away. The effect was intense, blinding, and dazzling. Definitely a nasty thing to do to any craft/vehicle...

Whats the legitimate use for these things? If nothing of significance outlaw them, ban them, whatever, get rid of them.

Oblivian

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#1493288 16-Feb-2016 15:12

Dairyxox:

I was on the Rotorua Skyline gondola a couple of months ago and our carriage got lit up by a lazer about 1km away. The effect was intense, blinding, and dazzling. Definitely a nasty thing to do to any craft/vehicle...

Whats the legitimate use for these things? If nothing of significance outlaw them, ban them, whatever, get rid of them.

Already are. They have been classified under the offensive weapon group for some time now. If used in public, you can be done for. Overseas bulk sellers now have them blacklisted for shipping to NZ, as they WILL get stopped at the boarder and cost them dearly. However like some people I know, this does not stop them visiting overseas ports and bringing them back in carry on or checked while none the wiser. The only dispensation is to front up with a Astronomy group membership and a couple of pages of forms filled out to accompany it into the border.

Red/Green can also be used for sport shooting mounting.

Me, I got it originally as a bit of fun to show people how different a short wavelength green is vs a keychain red. But also being an Aviation fan know to turn it of as soon I see aircraft. Now, it sits with my telescope usually for spotting stars and galaxies when showing kids and adults alike what they are seeing.

/edit

http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/environmental-health/high-power-laser-pointers