$10k Reward For Info On Anyone Who Points a Laser At Planes Goes Nationwide 264
coondoggie writes: "The FBI today said it was making national a pilot program it tried out in 12 locations earlier this year that offers up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of anyone who intentionally aims a laser at an aircraft. According to the FBI, the pilot locations have seen a 19% decrease in the number of reported laser-to-aircraft incidents. Those locations included: Albuquerque, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia."
Re:Profit! (Score:3, Informative)
1) Aim laser pointer at my own plane, parked in a hangar.
2) Turn myself in for "intentionally aiming a laser at an aircraft"
3) Profit!
4) Serve up to 5 years in prison and pay a fire of up to $250,000
5) Be unemployable with a prison record.
Brilliant plan there, sport. Go for it.
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
Polarized glass will do nothing. The issue with the laser is that, by time it reaches the plane, it's spread a fair amount. When it hits the glass of the cockpit, which has various minuscule scratches and dirt and whatnot, it gets lit up like a Christmas tree. Polarized glass will suffer the same fate. It's the dirt and imperfections that blind the pilot.
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
You'd think they'd have just put polarized glass in the cockpit by now if it were that big of a deal. Oh wait... that's right, it's not that big of a deal.
If it were as simple as polarized glass they might actually go that route. Unfortunately for everyone, it is much more complicated than that. [wikipedia.org] You need specific lenses to protect from specific wavelengths (of which there are many).
[...] hold a laser on a cockpit window for more than a tenth of a second. If a pilot is unable to land a plane after a flash of light that brief, we'd better start making lightening illegal because it's a hell of a lot brighter [...]
With high powered lasers (that are surprisingly easy to come by) [wickedlasers.com] a fraction of a second is all it takes to cause serious and often permanent eye injury. [wikipedia.org]
Re:huh (Score:4, Informative)
10,000 is a good number becasue it will raise awareness; which is what causes the real decline. People, many posting on slashdot, are really clueless about the impact a laser can have on a flight deck, and on pilots. So you need to get there attention some how.
and here.
http://www.pangolin.com/faa/la... [pangolin.com]
You should look into this great tool called 'Google'
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, wheres your studies to prove this?
You need a study to know that laser pointers are non-polarized and that shining a bright, non-polarized light through a polarizing filter doesn't stop the light from passing through? And even if the filter is 100% efficient, which none of them are, you only cut 1/2 the light that passes, and none of the light that lights up the crazing or other imperfections in the windows.
Remember, we're talking about sending stupid per-pubesent teenagers to prison.
No, we're talking about a $10,000 reward for information about people committing a crime.
I'm not saying they shouldn't get in trouble. I'm saying $10,000 rewards are insanely excessive.
Do you not know the difference between a fine, which is punishment for the criminal, and a reward, which isn't?
Trying to pass laws that make being young and stupid illegal haven't worked very well in the past.
Too late. It is already against the law to point a laser pointer at an aircraft. The law says nothing about "young and stupid people who point laser pointers", it covers old and smart people too. And if you think that pointing a laser pointer at an airplane will make it "fall out of the sky", you're wrong.
Re:huh (Score:3, Informative)
no it doesn't and i say that being someone that's shined lasers through glass many times.
Many cockpit windows are not glass, they are plexiglass. Glass is very heavy. Plexiglass tends to pick up lots of micro-scratches from improper, and even proper, cleaning, and it crazes over time from stress and sunlight. Even properly cleaned plexiglass cockpit windows suffer from glare and light splatter, and after a short bit of time during a flight they can have a lot of insect dirt on them, too.
and i can guarantee a plane's cockpit window is much cleaner than the windows i'm talking about.
I don't know how you can guarantee any such thing unless you are personally cleaning every one of them prior to each flight, and I can guarantee that you aren't doing that.
Re:Off the Flight Path... (Score:3, Informative)
5mW at an area of 1mm^2 corresponds to 50W at an area of 100cm^2.
This means that looking into a 5mW laser, and assuming it is concentrated in 1mm^2, corresponds to looking at a 50W lightbulb at a distance of 2.82cm.
Ouch.
Re:Off the Flight Path... (Score:4, Informative)
Just because the light isn't visible doesn't mean it's not harmful. After all, it's the invisible to you ultraviolet light from the Sun that gives you a sunburn.
Re:This is getting so old. (Score:4, Informative)
This one isn't frivolous. It has put pilots and crew in the hospital with eye burns.
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local... [wfaa.com]
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/he... [go.com]
While it hasn't led to air crashes YET it is still a serious form of assault on someone in a critical position.
Some states still have the death penalty for attacking a first responder. Something to think about.
Re:Off the Flight Path... (Score:4, Informative)
Re: huh (Score:3, Informative)
Do we always have to wait for people to get killed before doing something?
Does not seem very smart to me.
Some Accidents/Incidents: (Accidents because pilots were hurt, even if minor)
Kelowna B722 at Regina on May 13th 2013, laser beam incapacitates first officer
http://avherald.com/h?article=46251419&opt=0
American B752 at San Juan on Nov 16th 2012, laser beam injures pilot
http://avherald.com/h?article=4594849f&opt=0
Germanwings A319 near Stuttgart on May 12th 2012, first officer partially incapacitated by laser
http://avherald.com/h?article=452f4411&opt=0
Only a wuick search and quite a few more to be found in the same database...
Sadly enough thats a real problem.