NationStates Jolt Archive

It looks like Bin Laden (or not) has a new trick up his sleeve.
Over the past few weeks several airplanes have apparently had their cockpits targetted with lasers (Not star-wars style, just the kind that can blind you).
So, is this just a coincidence involving lots of careless kids/malevolent teenagers, or is it the product of evil terrorist masterminds trying to blind pilots while theyre landing?
From the terrorists point of view, its a good idea if it actually works, Im sure in a few weeks its going to be a federal regulation to have super-polarized windows or something.

http://users.pandora.be/xyzer/FPbert01.jpg



Er...I mean...nevermind...I just wanted to post that. :cool:

It looks like Bin Laden (or not) has a new trick up his sleeve.
Over the past few weeks several airplanes have apparently had their cockpits targetted with lasers (Not star-wars style, just the kind that can blind you).
So, is this just a coincidence involving lots of careless kids/malevolent teenagers, or is it the product of evil terrorist masterminds trying to blind pilots while theyre landing?
From the terrorists point of view, its a good idea if it actually works, Im sure in a few weeks its going to be a federal regulation to have super-polarized windows or something.


yes????
was that even something to talk about or are you stating known facts

O_o
M'kay.

if this had actually happened i think we would of heard about, unless u have some proof. like a link

Well, if you insist on proof...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/29/laser.plane/index.html

The incidents have certainly happened. There are plenty of commercially available lasers capable of doing the damage. The question remains whether or not an Al-Q member actually did something like this.

For those waiting for direct proof, I think they'll be waiting for an Al-Q member to step forward on TV and present his little device and make his claims.

There are probably these people about, trying this method. There are also some people who won't believe it even if Al-Q admits it. There are plenty of people I've talked to on this board who don't believe that Bin Laden was responsible for 9-11, even though he admitted it personally on tape. So they won't believe anything about the lasers either.

Considering the cost and the time involved they would have gotten a lot more bang for their buck with a truck bomb hitting a train full of explosive or toxic cargo in or near a city.

they shouldnt make laser lights so damn dangerous

and 15 miles? i doubt they were trying to target the aircraft, i bet if you looked into this, it isnt anything new, its just trying to be politicised as trying to reenergise the "lets go kill terrorist and everyone in the way"

Just because they were very bright with the airliner idea doesn't mean they're always very bright.

I remember idiotic plans by Palestinians in the 1980s. The funniest two were:

1. hang glider attack from Lebanon. Put comrade in hang glider, leap from high place, glide into Isreal, drop hand grenades. No successful attacks - all pilots riddled with bullets before landing.

2. hot air balloon attack from Lebanon. Can't afford custom balloon, so they decided to use paint to re-color a rainbow patterned balloon into a solid blue for camouflage effect. Balloon gets to a few thousand feet, starts drifting over Israel. Paint catches fire. Balloon plummets to earth.

They keep trying. Anything and everything will be their idea, and they'll try them all. Some of the ideas will be quite effective, and the vast majority will appear idiotic.

they shouldnt make laser lights so damn dangerous

and 15 miles? i doubt they were trying to target the aircraft, i bet if you looked into this, it isnt anything new, its just trying to be politicised as trying to reenergise the "lets go kill terrorist and everyone in the way"



whee, kill the tuicking terrorists! even if we tuck over a few innocent tuckers.

Could be a laser designator.... O_O

they shouldnt make laser lights so damn dangerous

and 15 miles? i doubt they were trying to target the aircraft, i bet if you looked into this, it isnt anything new, its just trying to be politicised as trying to reenergise the "lets go kill terrorist and everyone in the way"

Obviously not an engineer, physicist, or an industrial hygienist, are you?

It doesn't take that much laser light to blind you. And you don't have to be totally blind to be "dazzled" to the point where it makes it dangerous for you to continue flying an aircraft.

Obviously not an engineer, physicist, or an industrial hygienist, are you?

It doesn't take that much laser light to blind you. And you don't have to be totally blind to be "dazzled" to the point where it makes it dangerous for you to continue flying an aircraft.
at what point did you make a point i was supposed to care about

It's rather pointless to assert that lasers should somehow not be built to be as powerful as they are.

Building a solid state diode laser capable of permanently blinding anyone within line of sight is within the means of anyone capable of reading an electronic diagram and wielding a soldering iron.

Many hand held laser pointers are barely within the limits of safety for temporary exposure.

I don't believe that Chess Squares would believe it to be the work of terrorists even if it was proven to everyone else in the world. To Chess Squares, terrorists do not exist, and even if they could be proven to exist, they never do anything that's wrong. Take for example the "laser plot". If we only limited the power of lasers, then this would never happen. Certainly the fault of the government for allowing these dangerous things, and certainly not the fault of any terrorist.

It's rather pointless to assert that lasers should somehow not be built to be as powerful as they are.

Building a solid state diode laser capable of permanently blinding anyone within line of sight is within the means of anyone capable of reading an electronic diagram and wielding a soldering iron.

Many hand held laser pointers are barely within the limits of safety for temporary exposure.

I don't believe that Chess Squares would believe it to be the work of terrorists even if it was proven to everyone else in the world. To Chess Squares, terrorists do not exist, and even if they could be proven to exist, they never do anything that's wrong. Take for example the "laser plot". If we only limited the power of lasers, then this would never happen. Certainly the fault of the government for allowing these dangerous things, and certainly not the fault of any terrorist.
hey uh lt dumbass, maybe if you read my post it would explain why i doubt it to be the work of terrorists, since you are all smart i assumed you could comprehend it

maybe you should get off the subject of lasers pointers and read what i actually say

they shouldnt make laser lights so damn dangerous

You'll note that Chess has just blamed either manufacturers of laser products, or the government for allowing them to be "so damn dangerous".

and 15 miles? i doubt they were trying to target the aircraft,

Easily done with a laser.

i bet if you looked into this, it isnt anything new, its just trying to be politicised as trying to reenergise the "lets go kill terrorist and everyone in the way"
once again, the old idea that there are no real terrorists - it's just something the government is making up so that they can kill people.

Did I miss anything?

Easily done with a laser.
i know it will GO THAT FAR. how you know where it is i dont know
because uhh 15 miles is a good way and i doubt you would know where in the hell you are poitning it unless you got it tied to a telescope or really good binoculars

once again, the old idea that there are no real terrorists - it's just something the government is making up so that they can kill people.

Did I miss anything?
yeah, apparently a clue

like i said, if you LOOKED INTO IT i would doubt this is the first time it has ever happened and probably happens more than they are gonig to say in an article trying to get everyone to go anti-terrorist happy

and of course the government are good guys that neevr do anything bad and just want to make sure everyone is safe and knows whats going on, no they have NEVER tryed to politicise terrorism or even something that could be assumed as terrorism :rolleyes:

yeah, apparently a clue

like i said, if you LOOKED INTO IT i would doubt this is the first time it has ever happened and probably happens more than they are gonig to say in an article trying to get everyone to go anti-terrorist happy

and of course the government are good guys that neevr do anything bad and just want to make sure everyone is safe and knows whats going on, no they have NEVER tryed to politicise terrorism or even something that could be assumed as terrorism :rolleyes:

Every laser incident that has ever happened to a civilian airliner has been logged by the FAA. It's never happened before. So get a clue. I'm not saying it's terrorists, but someone is obviously using a laser and somehow they are affecting civilian airliners.

Every laser incident that has ever happened to a civilian airliner has been logged by the FAA. It's never happened before. So get a clue. I'm not saying it's terrorists, but someone is obviously using a laser and somehow they are affecting civilian airliners.
every laser incident that has ever happened is faa logged but its never happened before :rolleyes:


http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/aam-400A/Abstracts/2001/FULL%20TEXT/0107.pdf


case reports

"A survey of the FAA's Western-Pacific Region found 150-plus laser illumination incidents of low-flying aircraft for the period, January 1996 to July 1999."

oh yeah, its NEVER happened before and its all those damned terrorists going to toys r us and getting laser pointer keychains

[Dr Evil Vioce]So I turned the moon into a "Death Star", with a "laser" - it is with this "laser" that I will blow up Washington DC![/Dr Evil Voice]

every laser incident that has ever happened is faa logged but its never happened before :rolleyes:

Indeed they are logged. There are no incidents of laser flashblinding of civilian pilots prior to October 26, 1995. They occurred at a rate of one or two per year, ramping up in the last year to many times that rate. Either there are a lot more lasers just being waved about, or someone's trying to actively get an effect. According to Chess, we should ignore the second possibility, because that could never happen.

These are confirmed by medical analysis of the cornea, which show flash burns of the cornea that can only be produced by a laser.

There has been a hundred-fold increase in the number of incidents in the past few years. Research indicates that even a laser rated as eye-safe (your common laser pointer) is capable of temporarily destroying a pilot's ability to see the runway, or temporarily destroying the pilot's depth perception.

Indeed they are logged. There are no incidents of laser flashblinding of civilian pilots prior to October 26, 1995. They occurred at a rate of one or two per year, ramping up in the last year to many times that rate. Either there are a lot more lasers just being waved about, or someone's trying to actively get an effect. According to Chess, we should ignore the second possibility, because that could never happen.

These are confirmed by medical analysis of the cornea, which show flash burns of the cornea that can only be produced by a laser.

There has been a hundred-fold increase in the number of incidents in the past few years. Research indicates that even a laser rated as eye-safe (your common laser pointer) is capable of temporarily destroying a pilot's ability to see the runway, or temporarily destroying the pilot's depth perception.

also according to the report i read, past 10 feet there isnt much chance of eye injury

and if you read, you would have to blind the pilot and the copilot at the same time, in addition to doingi t on a non instrument landing

Osama...why don't you and the "laser" go get a frickin' room?

http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/aam-400A/abstracts/2004/FULL%20TEXT/0409.pdf

Yes, because you have to blind both, you probably won't cause a crash. But, if you try something long enough, you will get results someday.

Also, you don't have to permanently blind anyone - you just have to impair their vision enough to cause an accident.