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

[bernieS]

Yes, the FAA and other agencies involved with aviation should take 
this seriously for those reasons.  But for the USCG to publicly 
allege possible retinal damage to a crew member of a jet plane by 
someone on the ground pointing a handheld laser pointer at it--and 
making an emergency landing to hospitalize that crew member who saw 
the light--seems ludicrous based on the FAA's own educational 
materials and other readily available optical health & safety 
info.  You'd think they'd know science and stuff better.

-bernieS



At 09:42 PM 11/29/2012, John wrote:
>Some laser pointers that are being sold today are not eye safe, especially
>those in the green part of the spectrum.  In the worst case, the FAA is
>concerned about eye safety, but more generally it's about distraction or
>temporary dazzling of pilots and air crew.  The FAA and DoD take these
>matters very seriously. Do a search under "Laser Clearinghouse".
>
>73, John W1FV
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: laser-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:laser-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
>On Behalf Of bernieS
>Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 3:32 PM
>To: Laser Communications
>Subject: [Laser] Laser Pointer Incident Forces Emergency Landing of USCG
>Surveillance Jet
>
>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-inci
>dent-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.
>
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