Pilots having laser pens pointed at them...

[max_tranmere]

Just saw this on the news. You know those little laser pens you can buy, they're about the size of a cigar, and they have a range of like two miles, well people are pointing them into the eyes of pilots flying passenger planes into Heathrow airport. The pilot can't see anything when the light is shined at him and it has almost caused some serious crashes! Over 200 incidents of it last year, and over 100 already this year. Before long it will cause a major air disaster. This is troubling, those things are so small yet can do all of that. Anyone else worried by this, especially those who live near major airports or who are regular flyers!

[randyandy]

Been going on for a while this max and not just in London.

It was on the box a few weeks back that when criminals are out nicking cars in Manchester (I think it was Manchester but could have been Liverpool) and the helicopter goes up to catch them idiots point lazers at the Police to put them off the search.

The unfortunate realities are that these scumbags have no interest in anyone apart from themselves and if someone is killed because of their fun it's just tough sh*t as far as they are concerned.

No doubt some do gooder will blame society if something serious does happen after all it's not little Johnny's fault he is a complete prick.

[mrchapel]

Hmmm they could always FUCKING BAN THE LASER PENS!!!!!
Is there any need for them? Do they serve any useful productive function other than giving Chavs something to blind people with. I mean something like this and its readily on sale to retards like my cousins son, who pointed one in my sisters living room window and could have blinded her or my newborn niece. Little hoodie wearing fucker had difficulty seeing himself when I got a hold of him

[Peter]

mrchapel wrote:

> Hmmm they could always FUCKING BAN THE LASER PENS!!!!!

No they can't.

The decision to ban would have to be EU wide and come from our European masters. It would be a restrictive trade practice to ban them by ourselves.

Of course, proper punishment would solve the problem, but again, now that everyone has absolute rights and absolutely no responsibility, nothing is ever 'not worth it'.

[JonathanWilson]

Oh dear... this is so funny its almost sad.

Does anyone still believe this urban legand?

Think about it... have you ever watched the beam of a helicopter search light try to stay in place? Now this beam is big, bright, and blody powerfull and it has trouble keeping a whole human in its beam.

Now take a lazer, the beam potentially only a few CM wide from a long distance is supposedly able to hit a moving target aprox 1cm big called the eye!!!!

For anyone who has used a non-stablised lens over 200mm will attest to, its near impossible to keep a moving subject (such as a bird) inside the field of view without a great deal experiance. Now imagine trying to do the same thing with no way of knowing exactly where the beam is aimed at, with no visable feed back as to if its even close to the subject/target... its not as if you can actually see the lazer beam or the tiny spot of light if it does manage to hit its target so that you can track it.. also how does one see into the windshield of the cockpit and the eye of the pilot...

Tipical Daily mail "report," with little or no reality based on fact.

[Peter]

JonathanWilson wrote:

> Oh dear... this is so funny its almost sad.
>
> Does anyone still believe this urban legand?
>
> Think about it... have you ever watched the beam of a
> helicopter search light try to stay in place? Now this beam is
> big, bright, and blody powerfull and it has trouble keeping a
> whole human in its beam.
>
> Now take a lazer, the beam potentially only a few CM wide from
> a long distance is supposedly able to hit a moving target aprox
> 1cm big called the eye!!!!
>
> For anyone who has used a non-stablised lens over 200mm will
> attest to, its near impossible to keep a moving subject (such
> as a bird) inside the field of view without a great deal
> experiance. Now imagine trying to do the same thing with no way
> of knowing exactly where the beam is aimed at, with no visable
> feed back as to if its even close to the subject/target... its
> not as if you can actually see the lazer beam or the tiny spot
> of light if it does manage to hit its target so that you can
> track it.. also how does one see into the windshield of the
> cockpit and the eye of the pilot...
>
> Tipical Daily mail "report," with little or no reality based on
> fact.
>
>

There was some footage on Channel 4 news last night that would 'shoot down' your claims.

[JonathanWilson]

Peter wrote:

>
> There was some footage on Channel 4 news last night that would
> 'shoot down' your claims.

Just watched it... Didn't realise they were that powerfull! I was thinking of the "kiddy" lazer pens and office pointer style pens.

I retract my original post!

[jj]

I'd settle for London motorists not using high-beams.
For fucks's sake ! We DO have street-lighting..... and it takes
about 0.01 second to dip 'em.
The number of times I've been blinded.....