Morons with laser pointers - awesome takedown...

[ghosttrain]

I do find it interesting that the comments about bringing down airliners do NOT come from the few experienced aviators who have tried to chime in with some real-world concerns and experiences...)

Stuka, enough with this bullshit already.
First you comment that I cannot know what is in the mind of a terrorist while you apparently can, now you say we can't comment on aircrafts unless we are experienced aviators.
All we were saying was that if lasers were any good there would be at least one reported incident by now, and we wouldn't need to be a terrorist to know about it. Same with pointing lasers at aircrafts. We don't have to be pilots, the fact that nothing bad has happened until now tells something, as has been mentioned before. Someone being annoyed by something is not a precursor to developing new crime laws. That's just how it is.

[kecked]

I bet a lot of these people are just playing with a new toy and really only want to see if they can see the beam on the plane or on a cloud. Hey man how far can this thing go kind of thing. Plus the idiots of course. But the vast majority are probably not even thinking about harm.

Or hey junior look at that bright star I bet that's a planet.

[Draco]

i would support a night in jail just to scare the kid and ignorant types for a causal error, i know in my past stuff like that did me good. but the hate i am feeling is this thread has lost all hope of reason.

[Stuka]

Got to agree with you on the "lost all hope" ~
There has definitely been some "creative interpretation" of some of the statements that have actually been made -
Not that that has ever happened here on PL before! ; )

I guess that is to be expected when "discussions" take place on an open international forum...

[ghosttrain]

I see no interpretations, only quotes and responses to them,. But if you believe there has been any, then mention what was misinterpreted.

I bet a lot of these people are just playing with a new toy and really only want to see if they can see the beam on the plane or on a cloud. Hey man how far can this thing go kind of thing. Plus the idiots of course. But the vast majority are probably not even thinking about harm.

Exactly my point. Somehow the law makes it easy for people to get their hands on such toys, then you want the same legal system to punish them for playing with that toy.


I'm sorry if anyone got hit in the eye from a pointer and got pissed off or something of the sorts, but when pissed off people start talking about changing the law which will damage some people's lives to make them less pissed I can't ignore that.

[Stuka]

I noticed that Stuka qualifies his statements with "low-flying aircraft". I wonder if he will agree that the laws regarding pointers should be different for high-flying aircraft, and how those on the ground should know where the line is drawn? I'd agree with maximum enforcement for helicopters (the Egypt video aside)(those idiots usually get caught anyway), and include fixed wing aircraft with wheels down. Maybe define by distance from an airport? Anyway, "zero tolerance" and "one size for all" is just wrong in this case, and unjust. "Ban all pointers"? Lasers don't blind people, people blind people.

Truthfully, I think the few that are prosecuted (which are VERY few, compared to the number of reported incidents) are the ones that are repeatedly lasing low-flying aircraft from the same (general) location. You would probably be hard pressed to have any convictions stick as a result of an aircraft (especially airliners) lased at altitude, given that even when in the pattern a typical airliner is still going to be at several thousand feet. Of course, if you have someone on the ground that is "bold" enough to lase aircraft night after night from the same location, regardless of the altitude of the aircraft, the chances that the person holding the laser winds up in jail probably improves dramatically.

Generally, I think it's going to be the blatantly stupid, repeat dumbasses like the ones captured in the video that will "pay the price", but even then most seem to be getting off relatively easy.