A CAMPAIGN has been launched to tackle the growing problem of lasers being maliciously directed at planes and helicopters.
Follows a spate of incidents in South Wales, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is urging anyone who sees a light being directed at an aircraft to contact police immediately.
via WalesOnline
Laser targeting aircraft and helicopters has become a serious issue in last few years. Now polices in UK start equipping hand-held Laser Event Recorders (LER) to locate attackers.
Officers are now using hand-held Laser Event Recorders (LER) to gather evidence when they are “attacked” from the ground. The LER is held up to the helicopter’s window when the laser is first spotted.
The device, first adopted by the US Air Force, is a sophisticated digital camera which can detect laser radiation and take a picture of the attack.
It can also warn the police if the laser is powerful enough or close enough to cause physical damage to the eyes. There is a GPS receiver to record the location of the helicopter when attacked.
watch the video report:
Two men have been arrested after a laser light was shone at an aircraft coming into land at Cardiff Airport.
The crew of a flight from Dublin reported the incident, suggesting the green light had come from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan on Sunday night.
AN ambulance rescue helicopter has been attacked by laser pointers while transporting a badly injured man to hospital in Sydney’s southwest.
The crew had to alter their route to approach Liverpool Hospital safely, after a laser beam was pointed at the helicopter last night, a NSW Ambulance spokesman said.
via The Australian.
High-powered laser pointers that have been used to distract aircraft pilots will be banned in South Australia.
Lower-power pointers that are used in boardrooms will be exempt from the ban.
The Attorney-General, Michael Atkinson, says high-powered lasers will be a prohibited weapon, attracting up to two years’ imprisonment or a $10,000 fine.
“We want to stop idiots misusing laser pointers, high-powered laser pointers, that is laser pointers generating more than one milliwatt of power,” he said.
“We’ve had to consult widely because there are legitimate uses for laser pointers which generate less than one milliwatt of power and indeed there are some legitimate uses for those that generate more than a miliwatt, surveyors, astronomers and also for engineers.”
Transport Canada is trying to find out who has been pointing laser pointers at airplane pilots over the last few days.
There have been at least six instances recently where pilots landing at Montreal’s Trudeau airport have been distracted by a green laser pointer.
The device, which can be purchased for $100 and has a range of three kilometres, can blind airline pilots, so Transport Canada considers it a serious safety risk.
Montreal airport laser pointer a serious safety risk: Officials.
The internet trading companies eBay and Amazon are removing high-powered green laser pens from sale on their sites.
The move follows a BBC investigation which found some of these potentially dangerous products were being sold irresponsibly by individual traders.
Many listings describe the pens as toys or, in one case, “wicked gadgets”.
But RAF and police helicopters have been among dozens of aircraft targeted by these devices, which can send a beam several miles, dazzling pilots.
EBay told the Donal MacIntyre programme on BBC Radio 5 live it had become “increasingly concerned” by reports of these lasers being used for “wholly inappropriate purposes”.
Amazon.co.uk said it would “remove the listings for these products as quickly as possible”.
The Growing Laser Threat To Aircraft: the intentional shining of lasers on aircraft is on the rise.
Terrorists?
The FBI and Homeland Security Department have issued memos to law enforcement agencies stating that evidence indicates terrorists have considered using lasers as weapons. Federal officials have found no evidence any incidents to date are part of a terrorist plot. In a speech delivered in 2005, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta stated, “Let me address the security issue. There is no specific or credible intelligence that would indicate that these laser incidents are connected to terrorists. As far as we know, lasers are not the terrorists’ weapon of choice. Nor is there any evidence that these incidents are terrorists practicing for use of other weapons, as some have speculated. Unfortunately, most incidents have been linked to persons who have decided just for the thrill of it, to laser an aircraft.”
Since June of 2008, people have been arrested and charged in cases in Ohio, Texas, Florida, California and Massachusetts in which the lasers have been shined into the cockpit windows of aircraft in flight. The green laser pointers, sold online for less than $50, are many times brighter than red lasers and are used for presentations and to point at stars. When aimed at aircraft, however, they are bright enough to temporarily blind pilots. According to one police report, an incident occurred when a suspect pointed a laser at a State Patrol helicopter while it was flying over Minneapolis. The pilot was forced to land the helicopter when temporarily blinded. Investigation of the case has been referred to the FBI. Officers should be aware that these incidents are both federal and quite likely state criminal offenses. In New York State for example, a person could be charged at the state level for Reckless Endangerment in a laser incident.
The Danger of Lasers
Although it is unlikely a standard, commercially available laser could down an airliner there is still a significant threat. Shaoul Ezekiel , Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor emeritus of laser science said a pulse laser that emits a short burst of light is especially dangerous because there’s no chance for pilots to look away. “For pulse lasers, you haven’t got a chance,” Ezekiel said. “All it takes is one blast and it’s too late.” Putting louvers on the windscreen could reduce the probability that a laser would blind a pilot, he said. John Nance, a former pilot and aviation safety consultant, said military-grade lasers can actually punch through the back of the retina and kill the victim by causing a cerebral hemorrhage. Nance said he is concerned that some of the recent laser incidents could be terrorists testing laser equipment in preparation for an attack. “They’ll be looking to blow out the eyes of a pilot,” he said.
PILOTS have called for super-strong laser pens to be properly licensed after serious concerns were raised about incidents where pilots were briefly blinded by the gadgets.
Aviation bosses say they want the lasers, which breach UK safety limits on the strength of laser pens by as much as 200 times yet can cost as little as £10, to be treated in the same way as firearms following a close-call incident where passengers safety was threatened.
Last month the pilot of an easyJet flight into Edinburgh Airport was dazzled for more than ten seconds when someone flashed a green laser pen.
Security officers have arrested a man for directing the beam of a laser pointer at a Saudia aircraft while it was landing at Prince Muhammad Airport in Madinah. link
