Re: Flash Blinded By Green Laser

From: Gary Honis (ghonis_at_epix.net)
Date: 12/31/04 

Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 19:53:06 GMT

Hi Rod,

I agree that the sale of handheld lasers should not be banned, but there are
two questions you raised that I would like to address.

You wrote:

>>When a pilot says he was "flash blinded" by a green laser, I know
>>what he experienced and the disorientation that results.
>
>You do? Well, tell me how some pilot was "flash blinded" by a handheld
>laser
>pointer at 5 or 10k feet? How was it guided? How was it pointed into the
>cockpit? What about the tremendous beam dispersion?

I did experience "flash blindness" and "flash blindness" is what pilot's are
reporting. My statement that "I know what he experienced and the
disorientation that results" is the experience of being flash blinded by a
green laser and the symptoms described in my message including after-image
effects. This is the definition of "flash blindness" from the Rockwell
Laser Industry site at:

http://www.rli.com/resources/pointer.asp

"Flash-blindness: A temporary vision impairment that interferes with the
ability to detect or resolve a visual target following exposure to a bright
light. This is similar to the effect produced by flashbulbs, and can occur
at exposure levels below those that cause eye damage. This impairment is
transitory, lasting seconds to minutes depending upon the lasers light
exposure level and time, the visual task, the ambient lighting, and the
brightness of the visual target."

It is an excellent site for laser information with good laser safety
recommendations and they also maintain a laser accident database.

I don't know how pilots are being flash blinded.that's is what the FBI is
trying to figure out.

Handheld lasers companies have been increasing their power and they are
easily obtainable online. Green Laser companies and owners first started
tweaking lasers to the maximum Class IIIa level of 4.99mw. Online vendors
will tweak your 5mw green laser for you to beyond 30mw. Now green lasers
are being advertised as high as 115mw, with the following company promising
an even more powerful "Extreme" model soon:

http://www.laserphaser.net/lasers2.htm

I'm not suggesting the banning of their sale. But, how do you verify the
power of a green laser brought to an observing site or star party? Have you
tested or verified the output power of your green laser?

Brackets are being sold by many companies now for mounting green lasers to
telescopes to use as finders! I have easily tracked ISS passes using my
telrad while someone observes it through a low power eyepiece in my 20 inch
f/4.5 dob. I do not want to discuss how lasers could be used in
illegitimate ways. Green lasers are also being sold for use as telescope
collimators. Ever see the red dot from a laser collimator miss the
secondary in a reflector?

Rod also wrote:

>"I have several friends who are airline pilots, and I respect them
>tremendously.
>But, as they will tell you, when you're tired and immersed in what is
>basically
>a disorienting enviroment, it's very possible to see things that ain't so,
>from
>zooming saucers to laserspots. Unless these incidents were documented with
>laser radiation detectors, I wouldn't call them "proven.""

Rod, I don't think that laser radiation detectors are necessary for proof ,
especially with eye damage to piloits being documented such as retinal
burns.

The following is from online news reports (Google) today: December 31,
2004:

"Hundreds of cases of lasers shining into pilots' eyes have been reported
over the past decade; in several, the pilots sustained damage to their eyes.
In September, a Delta Air Lines pilot was injured by a laser directed into
his Boeing 737 about 5 miles from Salt Lake City International Airport. The
flight, which came from Dallas, landed without incident after noticing the
laser, but the first officer later felt stinging in one eye and was
diagnosed with a burned retina, according to the Washington Times."

"On Monday, a laser beam was directed into the cockpit of a commercial jet
flying about 15 miles from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at an
altitude of between 8,500 feet and 10,000 feet, FBI special agent Robert
Hawk said. It was determined the laser came from a residential area in
suburban Warrensville Heights. Air traffic controllers used radar to
determine the laser's origin."

"In New Jersey, the pilot of a corporate-owned Cessna Citation carrying 13
people said three green lasers were pointed into his cockpit while
approaching the Teterboro airport on Wednesday night. Law enforcement
officials said they were believed to have originated near a mall in Wayne,
according to Passaic County Sheriff's Office spokesman Bill Maer."

Dark and laser-free skies,

Gary

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