[Laser] Laser injures Delta pilot's eye

[VE7DXG]

I think anybody that tried to aim a few mW laser to a target 5 miles away
knows that it would be impossible to hit a target travelling 100+ miles/hour
to actually cause eye damage.
If somebody did this on purpose I sure would like to run a sked with them!
Gabor, VE7DXG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <TWOSIG at aol.com>
To: <laser at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 6:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Laser] Laser injures Delta pilot's eye


> I have been following the comments on the news story.  A few comments from
my
> perspective.  I have no conclusions, just some thoughts to put a few
> boundarises on the discussion.
>
> >From various news reports the aircraft was a 737 about 5 miles from the
> airport.  Typical landing pattern is at an angle of about 3 degrees.  At a
range of
> about 30,000 feet, the aircraft's altitude would be 1500 feet, probably
less.
>  Approach speed of a 737 is between 100 and 160 knots depending on weight
and
> flap setting.  The aircraft would have been less than 3 miniutes from
> landing, which would put the flight crew very busy, looking both in and
out of the
> cockpit.
>
> The reported event involved a green laser.  Green is a fact, which I can
only
> assume was accurately reported.  That would rule out any red laser
pointers.
> If it was a laser might be questioned, but to the general public only a
laser
> is bright enough to cause eye damage at night in an airliner.
>
> Some supposition, that the pilot would have been injured in the time
before
> he could blink, which is reported to be about 0.25 seconds, during which
time
> the aircraft would have traveled about 42 feet.  The cockpit window would
> provide good visibility from straight ahead to each side, but not down.
On the
> assumption that the beam came from the ground, the possible "footprint" is
> bounded, though large.
>
> The beam would have to have been bright enough to cause damage to the
pilot's
> eye and large enough, or controled enough to follow the aircraft's path.
The
> higher the energy density, the faster the eye damage, the smaller the beam
> had to be, or the less time it had to "track" the aircraft.
>
> If it is a terrorist tactic, it will not be an isolated incident.  Nor
will
> future incidents be isolated to Salt Lake City.  The less press this gets,
the
> less likely it will be attractive as a weapon.   And the less likely some
> Washington Bureau-idiot will make experimenting with, or even possession
of lasers
> into a federal crime.
>
>
> James
> N5GUI
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