[Article] Aircraft laser thugs target garda chopper

ambasite

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/aircraft-laser-thugs-target-garda-chopper-2335226.html

CaptainSkidmark

right, i have one of these high powered lasers but for for christ sake pointing it at a aircraft or into someones eyes? i cant understand how someone could be so stupid to point it at an aircraft.

iPlop

could a laser be that strong aimed at a plane at 21,000????If is was then it was no laser pointer!

ambasite

Septic Leper wrote: »

could a laser be that strong aimed at a plane at 21,000????If is was then it was no laser pointer!

21,000ft - pretty impressive laser alright.

SNAKEDOC

i've never heard of a laser been that strong. yea maybe when a plane is taking off such as in darndale the planes pass the park there and its a perfect spot to hide but at 21 thousand feet the user must have a steady hand and good vision either that or its a very large machine that can generate a laser and can be aimed

ILA

In a darkened cockpit, a laser could be quiet harmful as it would temporarily blind the pilot for a few minutes, event a small one. Anything over 5mW has potentional, costs about 15 euro for one.

The PSNI and most UK Police helicopters have a device which can locate those who point the laser, and has led to arrests, most recently in Derry a few months ago I believe. I'm a little surprised the Gardai don't seem to have this technology, it seems it would be a good investment.

adamski8

could a laser get into a cockpit anyway?
isnt it the case that the plane would be at an angle taking off and obviously the windows of the cockpit are on the top of the nose so i cant see how the laser could get in

donkey balls

adamski8 wrote: »

could a laser get into a cockpit anyway?
isnt it the case that the plane would be at an angle taking off and obviously the windows of the cockpit are on the top of the nose so i cant see how the laser could get in

the windows that are on the side of the cock pit they are very large.

CaptainSkidmark

my laser is 200mw and has a solid green beem to 500feet but the dot goes to 6000 feet. so the box says anyway. i imagine they could hit any plane landing in dublin no bother. by right they should just ban the things totally.

BrianD

Not trying to diminish the potential risk but have their been many people blinded by these things and has a pilot ever been blinded by a laser?

Given that they are quite popular in office presentation I thought at least one suit would have blinded the client he was presenting to by now.

adamski8

donkey balls wrote: »

the windows that are on the side of the cock pit they are very large.

wouldnt it look something like this:


thats a very narrow spot to aim a laser and if it did get through the windows surely it would hit the roof of the cockpit?

Eye

These laser pointers would not be your typical boardroom meeting lasers, I would hazard a guess and say that they are using a good quality astronomy laser pointer which would be way more powerful.

There are many sites that sell these and I remember in the past seeing them advertised on various astronomy sites as being visible up to 7km away so that might explain why the problems exists. We are not talking about someone standing outside the grounds of the airport pointing it up in the air at the aircraft, they could be 5km away and pointing it across the sky at low flying aircraft and thats the kind of thing that could present a problem to pilots.

donkey balls

anyone that has flown a plane at night time would know that using a normal torch(white bulb etc) can make it hard to see the instruments while night flying.
so i can only imagine what it would be like to have a high powered laser beam coming into the flight deck,i happen to live under the flight path of Dub airport and the acft do be about 2000ft AGL when on finals so i would imagine it would be very easy for someone to point these lasers at acft.

CaptainSkidmark

i wont mention the site but the one where i got my 200mw one you can buy a 500mw one also. now thats a cheap one. you can also get one that is a inch thick and has heat sync's an all on them that go miles and burn a hole straight through plastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=680xwwEs7Lg

ednwireland

CaptainSkidmark wrote: »

my laser is 200mw and has a solid green beem to 500feet but the dot goes to 6000 feet. so the box says anyway. i imagine they could hit any plane landing in dublin no bother. by right they should just ban the things totally.

errrrrr, they are illegal inireland in fact as far as i know unless they are red and under 5mw

andy_g

If you go to the airsoft forum charter it explains all legallities regarding lasers

Ilyushin76

Happened again tonight.Ryanair 3RA near cork reported a green laser being pointed at the cockpit,the pilot said it was lighting up the whole cockpit.Was looking at the flight on casper and the flight was at around 17000 feet when it happened so the most be very strong lasers.

iPlop

John85 wrote: »

Happened again tonight.Ryanair 3RA near cork reported a green laser being pointed at the cockpit,the pilot said it was lighting up the whole cockpit.Was looking at the flight on casper and the flight was at around 17000 feet when it happened so the most be very strong lasers.

If the laser is pointing up at the plane ,surely it's going to strike the belly of the plane or underneath the cockpit.How could it be shining into the cockpit at 17,000 feet?

Ilyushin76

Maybe it was pointed at an angle.I can get you the atc clip if you want ?

iPlop

John85 wrote: »

Maybe it was pointed at an angle.I can get you the atc clip if you want ?

Cheers that would be great!:)

Ilyushin76

No bother.

Here is the atc

Report is around 3.30 in and resumes again around 5.20.

Here is the flight

Move the slider to 20.30 and the date to the 18th.