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Coast Guard helicopter flight disrupted by laser


cburg

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http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2014/09

 

From a Coast Guard press release:

MCKINLEYVILLE, CA — A Coast Guard helicopter flying over Arcata was targeted by an individual with a laser Friday evening.

The MH-65D Dolphin crew was returning from an operation in southern California when the incident occurred. The laser shined directly in the eyes of both pilots and appeared to come from Janes Road at Upper Bay Road in Arcata.

Lieutenant Josh Smith was one of the pilots. "We were at approximately 1500 feet returning to the base when a green laser shined from left to right across the cockpit, shining in both our eyes (the pilots). We tried not to look at the laser, but flying on the instruments while looking away from it (the laser) is very difficult." Coast Guard pilots often fly solely by looking at the cockpit instruments without outside visual cues, but are trained to look away from a laser targeting the aircraft to protect their eyesight. Even if not directly hit by a laser, being forced to look away from the instruments can result in the pilot literally flying blind.

Laser pointers can cause glare, afterimage, flash blindness or temporary loss of night vision, all causing great danger to the crew. If a laser is shined in the eyes of an aircrew member, Coast Guard flight rules dictate that the aircraft must abort its mission. In order to protect their health and safety the member is taken off flight duty until cleared by a flight surgeon. This hinders the Coast Guard's ability to respond to people in distress and conduct training.

It is a federal crime, as well as a violation of California state law to aim a laser pointer at an aircraft. If an individual is caught purposefully lasing an aircraft, punishment ranges from being arrested or having to pay a civil penalty of $1000 up to $2,000 and 3 years imprisonment. Federal law allows for a punishment of imprisonment of up to 5 years. A list of California aviation laser incidents can be seen at the following location: http://laserpointersafety.com/news/news/aviation-incidents_files/tag-california.php. Anyone witnessing this crime is strongly encouraged to immediately call 911 to report the incident.

The Coast Guard wants to prevent future laser strikes and is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Arcata Police to investigate the incident.


- Source: http://www.times-standard.com

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Echoing the need for harsher sentences, I've been hit with a laser it was horrible, the whole cockpit lit up, and doing banks to avoid it brought me low and way to close to a tower.

 

I guess a gentle turn until it's at your rear and opening your eyes sporadically would be best. I would appreciate other ideas.

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They work. It's just one more thing you have to put on your face. But in my case I fly at night with prescription glasses with my NVGs. There's only so many things I can set on my nose.

I read that they make some prescription ones. Not sure though if you're supposed to wear them all night or just rush to put them on after a strike?

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This reminds me of the strategy behind a method of nuke weapon delivery. The pilot (and crew if assigned) are issued an eyepatch. That way if a nuke goes off on ingress or egress and the nuke curtains aren't drawn, you still have one good eye left. I always worried about the second nuke going off, not thinking it would be a great idea to wear 2 patches.

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I'm surprised at 1500 ft the laser could hit both pilots directly in the eyes. I would think the instrument panel would be in the way. The hh65 doesn't have foot windows.

 

Laser spot size will increase with distance from the emitter. It's called beam divergence - so in reality that small laser beam could have been 2 or 3 feet big, and not exactly hard to miss some one's face with either. Not to mention the effect of the plexiglass or glass windows would have on the laser as well.

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The best example is it's like being in a dark room and someone shining one of those bright LED flashlights on strobe mode at you. It's really disorienting. My record so far is being hit at 3500' doing a surveillance with a green laser. Never did find the person. I would have loved how he managed to keep a bead on me even while banking away.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Re-posted:

 

icon1.gif
They've been meting out some harsh sentences, but assclowns keep lighting up aircraft anyway.

Just a couple weeks ago, Houston, TX: 2 years in pen, 3 years supervised release:
http://www.khou.com/story/news/local...air1/16600573/

August, Fresno, CA: 1 year 9 months, 3 years of supervised release:
http://www.fbi.gov/sacramento/press-...ffs-helicopter

March, Fresno CA: 14 years (!) in Fed Pen. (He had a long record and was a known gang member).
http://www.fbi.gov/sacramento/press-...ears-in-prison
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel...-alpa/6330661/

May, CA: The 14-year cat's GF also got slammed:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...opters-n104636

March, Burbank CA. (What's in the water out there?): 30 months.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/25/us/cal...aser-sentence/

If you know some assclown who's doing this, the FBI will cheerfully pay a $10k reward for information leading to, etc.

Some of these are clueless, narcissistic people, but others are already criminals. Sentences don't seem to alter the behavior of any criminals, except the actual ones who get locked up. And only for as long as they're locked up.

"Boredom is no excuse for pointing a laser at an aircraft," as an FBI agent says on one of those pages. It's also a Simple Jack level of reason for going to Club Fed.
__________________
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It's unfortunate that laser strikes happen so frequently, but the massive penalties alone aren't going to solve the problem. As pilots, we see this as a black-and-white common sense issue. Of course pointing a laser at an aircraft could blind the pilot.

 

I'm willing to bet that in many of these cases, the people had no idea as to how serious their actions were. If you were to go around asking, I'm sure many people would be surprised to know that a laser could dramatically affect an aircraft (or rather the pilot) thousands of feet away. Let alone that they could be fined thousands of dollars and end up in prison.

 

Now, ignorance of the law is no excuse, but we could also do a much better job at educating the public. The next time you're presenting at 'career day' or participating in a public outreach event, discuss the dangers and punishments associated with laser strikes.

 

*Edited for grammar.

Edited by Hand_Grenade_Pilot
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Ive done a couple interviews on the news about this topic. In both Ive said that for the most part my personal belief is that people don't really comprehend what they are doing and arent intending for anything bad to happen so education is the priority. Of course, Ive been on calls where someone was clearly using a laser to keep us from a call. We didnt catch that guy...or girl.

 

The thing lately is being on calls and people shining those dang Home Depot 1M candle power hand held lights at me. As Im patrolling around at night, Im hit with lights all the time.

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Ive done a couple interviews on the news about this topic. In both Ive said that for the most part my personal belief is that people don't really comprehend what they are doing and arent intending for anything bad to happen so education is the priority. Of course, Ive been on calls where someone was clearly using a laser to keep us from a call. We didnt catch that guy...or girl.

 

The thing lately is being on calls and people shining those dang Home Depot 1M candle power hand held lights at me. As Im patrolling around at night, Im hit with lights all the time.

I don't notice them randomly shining at cars that drive by. Lasers or high powered flashlights.

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Because someone will stop and stomp them into the ground. Are people trying to be irritating or annoying when they do it? Yes. Do they do it saying "Watch this... Im gonna make that plane crash." For the majority, no I don't think so.

You are probably right, but I think there is more to it than that. It wouldn't be too difficult to find a good hiding spot and light up passersby on an interstate and avoid being caught.

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Idiots might think it is funny, but they can go FOAD. I have been lased and spotlighted plenty of times CONUS and OCONUS. My father flies 777s and he has been lased as well, plenty of times.

 

It is irresponsible behavior.

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