How Many Times Have You Been Lasered Poll

[201er]

This is getting ridiculous. This is already the 3rd time I’ve either been hit or warned and trying to avoid a laser since 2018! I don’t even fly at night all that much. Without looking in my book, I’d guess that’s at least 1 in 20 night flights where I got hit or was avoiding getting hit. 
 

You can’t even say the b-word without getting arrested off an airplane, can they start treating this like the malicious act of terrorism that it is? They’re essentially trying to bring down an airplane.

[EricJ]

A buddy that flies regularly at night gets hit a lot as well.   Around here (Phoenix) they have pursued reports before.

[Will.iam]

I have a green laser as well. When they try to laser me i laser back. For all they know a laser guided bomb is on it’s way. It stops the issue. At least from that area of the ground. 

[LevelWing]

I haven't been hit with a laser yet. I'm sure it's likely to happen at some point but so far I haven't been hit with one.

[mhrivnak]

The limiting factor is the ability to find the person with the laser. The position report given by a pilot is likely to be "at my 2 o'clock in 1 mile", which is highly imprecise already. Then ATC has to figure out how to translate that into a location that law enforcement can use. Unless the pilot is willing to circle and spend time identifying a specific location, which may or may not even be possible depending on how urban or rural the location is, little can be done.

Green lasers can cause permanent eye damage, so don't spend time looking for the source unless you happen to have protective eyeware.

Episode 142 of the Opposing Bases podcast (highly recommended as a podcast) talks about the ATC side of how difficult it is to do anything about green laser events.

[A64Pilot]

Never even heard of it happening to anyone.

Laser damage is very easy to see, a Dr can see it on your retina, the AH-64 used a laser designator of course and for a time everyone in my squadron had their retinas photographed I think every 90 days, then the test ended and all the photos disappeared from our medical records, we were issued green tinted laser glasses though. So if you think you may have received damage an eye exam will find it, but I don’t think anything can be done about it.

Lasers on the battlefield are a big deal, back in the day windowless aircraft were being developed.

We had tested an escort laser, it hung on a weapons pylon, any optical grade glass on anything we flew near would be detected with a scanning laser and then hit with a high power laser, it was powerful enough to opaque a tanks periscope which is just a thick glass prism.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/02/01/Army-cancels-laser-weapon-program/1439444459600/

It was never fielded because EVERY bit of optical glass would be hit, personal glasses, binoculars etc. It couldn’t discriminate. Optical grade glass will glow like a cats eyes at night hit by a light if it’s hit by a specific laser frequency

However it did show up on a Bradley fighting vehicle under a different name later

https://man.fas.org/dod-101/sys/land/stingray.htm

I would suspect others have it too, it can’t be that hard to cook a pilots eye and blind them.

I have a bright green laser made apparently to teach people the stars by pointing at them, I kept it on the boat as a signaling device.

 

[C.J.]

I don't think I was specifically "targeted". The 2 times it happened were on the arrival into ATL near Stone Mountain Park. Advised ATC & filed a NASA report. 

[jrwilson]

I get hit a lot since I do a lot of circling over cities at night for work.  I have a camera on the plane, so I can give a pretty good location for law enforcement to go.  In California it is a felony and law enforcement takes it pretty seriously.  When I get hit and I'm out of my normal area, I check foreflight and find the nearest law enforcement helicopter and send them over to coordinate a ground response.  Works pretty well.  

[jrwilson]

4 hours ago, mhrivnak said:

The limiting factor is the ability to find the person with the laser. The position report given by a pilot is likely to be "at my 2 o'clock in 1 mile", which is highly imprecise already. Then ATC has to figure out how to translate that into a location that law enforcement can use. Unless the pilot is willing to circle and spend time identifying a specific location, which may or may not even be possible depending on how urban or rural the location is, little can be done.

Green lasers can cause permanent eye damage, so don't spend time looking for the source unless you happen to have protective eyeware.

Episode 142 of the Opposing Bases podcast (highly recommended as a podcast) talks about the ATC side of how difficult it is to do anything about green laser events.

If able, check foreflight/Garmin Pilot traffic display and see if there is a law enforcement aircraft nearby and give them a call on the radio.  They often do have protective eyewear and can go track the laser source.

[Fly Boomer]

4 minutes ago, jrwilson said:

coordinate a ground response.  Works pretty well.  

Any convictions?

[jrwilson]

4 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

Any convictions?

Many.  Always gets reduced, but the DA does pursue it.

[ohdub]

The local police helicopters here get hit regularly with lasers. Using their infrared cameras they often get arrests.

One evening a few years ago we had multiple reports of laser strikes from CYYZ arrivals, I had one of the police helicopters on my frequency and I vectored him to the area of the reports. The offender was caught and the video from the helicopter of the whole event was shown on the news the next evening. Sadly it didn't result in any decrease in laser attacks.

Steve