[Laser] Laser Pointer Incident Forces Emergency Landing of USCG Surveillance Jet

[bernieS]

Here's an interesting chart: "Worst-case 1 mrad divergence - Eye and 
visual interference hazard distances, nautical miles"  (A nautical 
mile is about 1.15 miles or 1.85 
km) 
http://www.laserpointersafety.com/resources/2011-12-eye-and-viz-hazard-chart-1-mrad-top-only.gif

According to this chart, it seems impossible that a jet crew member's 
retinae could be damaged by the beam from a handheld laser 
pointer.  It seems that U.S. law-enforcement agencies and Homeland 
Security agencies (such as USCG) need some remedial physics training.

-bernieS



At 03:31 PM 11/29/2012, bernieS wrote:
>While it could be a distraction to a jet crew member, how could a 
>"handheld laser pointer" beam that has diverged over a distance of 
>many thousands of feet to a jet flying overhead possibly cause any 
>retinal damage, or require an emergency landing and hospitalization 
>of that crew member?
>
>Even this FAA/USAF video admits, "In the scenario of cockpit laser 
>illuminations, permanent physical damage to the eye is highly 
>unlikely.  The lasers involved in cockpit laser strikes, for the 
>most part, will not cause physical damage to the eye due to 
>variables such as length of exposure, intensity, and/or proximity." 
>http://www.laserpointersafety.com/page52/2009FAAvideo/2009FAAvideo.html
>
>It seems to me that government authorities continue to grossly 
>misrepresent the facts and actual risk of retinal damage in these 
>laser pointer incidents.  This could erroneously lead to crackdowns 
>on amateur LASER DX experimentation.
>
>-bernieS
>
>
>http://www.hstoday.us/channels/us-coast-guard/single-article-page/laser-incident-forces-emergency-landing-of-coast-guard-jet.html
>
>Laser Incident Forces Emergency Landing of Coast Guard Jet
>
>By: Mickey McCarter
>11/07/12
>
>A crew member onboard a US Coast Guard (USCG) HU-25 Guardian 
>aircraft flying over Portland, Texas was hospitalized after being 
>struck in the eyes by a handheld laser pointer, the agency said Tuesday.
>
>The Dassault Falcon 20 jet, manufactured by French company Dassault 
>Aviation, was forced to make an emergency landing Monday as it 
>approached Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi, the Coast Guard 
>said. The Coast Guard employs the medium-range surveillance aircraft 
>for search and rescue, illegal drug interdiction, environmental 
>protection and other missions.
>
>"Whether this happened to our Coast Guard aircraft flying on a 
>search and rescue mission, a student Navy pilot just learning to 
>fly, or an airliner carrying a plane full of passengers, the public 
>needs to be aware of the dangers associated with pointing a laser at 
>any aircraft," USCG Lt. Philip Thisse, the commander of the affected 
>aircraft, said in a statement.
>
>Thisse added, "The laser directly hit one of our crewmembers while 
>conducting an instrument approach and it filled the cockpit with a 
>blinding light. We had to conduct an emergency landing and one of 
>our crewmembers was sent to the Bay Area Emergency Room. Either 
>malicious or just an irresponsible act, lasing an aircraft poses a 
>significant hazard to the lives of aircrew and impacts our ability 
>to respond to people in distress."
>
>The crewmember, who suffered "temporary vision impairment," is 
>expected to make a full recovery.
>
>The Coast Guard has faced a number of lasing incidents this year. 
>This was the third overall interference of air operations at Coast 
>Guard Air Station Corpus Christi since June.
>
>On Aug. 8, the Coast Guard reported a helicopter aircrew was blinded 
>by a green laser while conducting surveillance to uncover the source 
>of emergency flares near Garden City Beach, SC. That attack was the 
>third in three weeks experienced by USCG aircraft in the Grand 
>Strand, a beach resort area stretching from Little River, SC, to 
>Georgetown, SC.
>
>USCG Sector Charleston sent a boat from Coast Guard Station 
>Georgetown to carry on the search after the helicopter was forced to 
>land around 1:45am that morning. As the boat was not as fast as the 
>helicopter, the search was delayed for about two hours.
>
>Lasing incidents in the Grand Strand have numbered so high that the 
>Coast Guard has deemed it "very high risk."
>
>Congress acted this year to officially criminalize lasing attacks on 
>government and commercial aircraft. Section 311 of the Federal 
>Aviation Administration (FAA) Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 
>(Public Law 112-95), signed by President Barack Obama on Feb. 14, 
>made it a federal offense to aim a laser pointer at an aircraft in 
>US airspace. Offenders face a fine of up to $250,000 and five years in prison.
>
>The FAA reported a 902 percent increase in lasing incidents from 2005 to 2011.
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Laser mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/laser
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:Laser at mailman.qth.net
>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html