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| Laser injures Delta pilot's eye | |
| 2004-09-29 | |
| A pilot flying a Delta Air Lines jet was injured by a laser that illuminated the cockpit of the aircraft as it approached Salt Lake City International Airport last week, U.S. officials said. The plane's two pilots reported that the Boeing 737 had been five miles from the airport when they saw a laser beam inside the cockpit, said officials familiar with government reports of the Sept. 22 incident. The flight, which originated in Dallas, landed without further incident at about 9:30 p.m. local time. A short while later, however, the first officer felt a stinging sensation in one eye. A doctor who examined the pilot determined that he had suffered a burned retina from exposure to a laser device, the officials said. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokeswoman Yolanda Clark confirmed the incident, but declined to provide details. "TSA is aware of the incident, and we are working with the airline in conducting an investigation to try and determine the cause of the incident," Miss Clark said. She would not say whether TSA considers the incident a possible security threat to commercial aircraft. Other officials said the incident was serious enough that the pilot will be unable to fly for at least a week. "So far, it doesn't sound like there will be permanent [eye] damage," one official said. The identity of the pilot could not be learned, and Delta spokesman Anthony Black declined to comment. Officials were unsure of the source of the laser and could not determine whether the exposure was deliberate or accidental. John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said commercial pilots have been exposed to laser illumination. "The Air Line Pilots Association has received reports in the past of incidents where lasers penetrated cockpits and, in at least one case, caused injury," Mr. Mazor said. Several years ago, a pilot flying into a Western airport was hit by a light from a laser light show. The causes of the other incidents are not known, he said. Asked whether a laser aimed at pilots could cause a plane to crash, Mr. Mazor said: "I think that's highly improbable. In every case in the past, the flights landed safely."
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #10 one wonders what the effect of the shutters closing might be just the instant before wheels on the ground..... PS: One would have to direct different laser beams at each individual cockpit window to make that happen. The only other way of doing so would involve being situated directly in the aircraft's approach path and using a rotating scanning mirror (like at your supermarket but far more expensive) to scatter a tightly distributed incident beam over all of the cockpit windows at once. They would have better luck recruiting a "black widow" bomber first. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-09-29 11:26:54 PM |
| #9 #2 Wonder if the pilot heard Ben in his head... "Use the force"... |
| Posted by: IG-88 2004-09-29 8:13:15 PM |
| #8 one wonders what the effect of the shutters closing might be just the instant before wheels on the ground..... Sheemp, please go back and read the part about, "some passenger jet liners are capable of taking off and landing at an overseas destination without any pilot assistance." It would be a simple matter to create overlay software whereby pilot handling can be instantaneously released into autopilot control that is fed with prior flight path information and ILS (Instrument Landing System) runway approach data. There is no reason why the plane should lose any significant degree of touch-down accuracy due to handover during final approach. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-09-29 5:03:24 PM |
| #7 with every breath that you take? (I'm like the pulse of blood thythm.) |
| Posted by: Lil Ronnie Spektre 2004-09-29 4:47:40 PM |
| #6 I recently got a Baretta 96 with a laser site built into the grip. I can tell you from experience that its nearly impossible to hold that laser on target for more than a few seconds. It bounces all over the place with every breath or pulse of your blood. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2004-09-29 3:13:29 PM |
| #5 one wonders what the effect of the shutters closing might be just the instant before wheels on the ground..... |
| Posted by: Sheemp Omeens7966 2004-09-29 3:02:58 PM |
| #4 But what if both pilots get blinded on final approach? Using GPS and advanced autopilot ground approach technologies, some passenger jet liners are capable of taking off and landing at an overseas destination without any pilot assistance, once the craft is lined up on the runway. This is why China needed congressional approval to buy Boeing 767s. Their onboard avonic guidance system is sufficiently accurate for dual-use in ICBMs. "ed" has an idea to have goggles that filter out the wavelengths of the lasers that are harmful. BigEd, all wavelengths are "harmful" when you concentrate watts of power on a spot size of no more than a few square millimeters. This is the nature of the beast with coherent radiation. The human retina is not able to disperse so much concentrated energy, regardless of frequency. While costly, it might be possible to provide fast response LCD "shutters" on the cockpit windows so that they would black out when incoming coherent radiation was detected. Manufacturers already utilize LCD shutters for gating the output of high power industrial lasers used in machining and cutting of materials. While the cockpit windows could not be water cooled, which would enable resistance to prolonged high wattage exposure, they could certainly give pilots time to don goggles and switch the plane over to autopilot controlled evasive maneuvers. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-09-29 1:07:31 PM |
| #3 Thank god it wasn't Wellingtons Victory. |
| Posted by: Max K 2004-09-29 12:58:28 PM |
| #2 Does any person have the ability to hold steady a laser for more than a split seconnd. "ed" has an idea to have goggles that filter out the wavelengths of the lasers that are harmful. Perhaps what could be developed is like virtual reality headgear that the pilots wear, showing to them the approach with a TV like image, two cameras which give depth, but only the tri-color of TV without letting any light in, plus autopilot stuff from the airplanes computer to assist the landing Several years ago, a pilot flying into a Western airport was hit by a light from a laser light show. I remember hearing about this at the time... It was LAX, and the Laser show was the Hollywood Bowl, who had John Williams come out and do a Star Wars thing. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-09-29 12:20:01 PM |
| #1 The North Koreans and Chinese have also tried to blind our pilots. I also remember reading the Chinese have lasers to blind ground troops. Soon laser safe goggles will be required combat equipment (and airline pilot gear it seems). PS. A near infrared laser is better. The victim would not realize anything is happening until his retinas were burned out. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-09-29 9:40:26 AM |