EC120AV8R Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 Last night a kid who got his shiny new laser for Christmas decided it would be cool to point it at an airplane he could see off in the distance. He ended up temporarily blinding the crew of a Skywest flight that was about 4 miles away. They reported the event over the tower frequency and we flew over to investigate. We were about a half mile away, and he hit us as we approached. It was abright green laser, and it pretty much filled the cockpit with bright green light. I hit him with the search light and he stopped. Of course, because the Skywest flight reported the laser incident to the tower, it started a chain of events and notification that includes Homeland Security and the FBI. Bottom line is that a 15 year old kid ended up getting arrested on Christmas, because he and his parents (who were with him) lacked the common sense to realize that lasing aircraft might not be a good idea. Green lasers are far worse than the red pointers we often see. They are brighter and generally more powerful. The light will fill the whole cockpit up and the glare bouncing around the inside of the windscreen makes it impossible to see out. Quote
FlyNHighNFast Posted December 26, 2007 Posted December 26, 2007 I can't even understand why his parents would think a powerful laser is something that a 15 year old should have. I can't say that I feel sorry for him or them, unless they have been living under a rock, there have been quite a few stories on flight crews getting lazed by green lasers. The next thing to come out of this would be "laser permits," thanks to a few morons. Quote
Future206Pilot Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 EC120AV8R Are lights just naturally attracted to you? Quote
rmiller4292 Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 EC120AV8R, I'm currently a TFO/Pilot Trainee on our EC-120 here in Austin, and I had a very similar incident, it was a 13 year old kid who had saved up his allowance to buy a green laser...we were transiting the area and were struck from the TFO side of the aircraft. We immediately went into an orbit and I located the suspect with the Nightsun. Ground units arrived and confiscated the laser and talked to the suspect and his parents. He was not arrested, but we spoke with the mother at length and explained the situation to her....Lights must be attracted to me too....On another occasion, we were flying over the downtown entertainment district when we took another hit from a green laser....this time there were too many people in the vicinity to identify the suspect. Ryan Quote
Goldy Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 Ground units arrived and confiscated the laser and talked to the suspect and his parents. He was not arrested, Ryan umm, I'm all for discretion, but this is a federal offense last I checked. Quote
Goldy Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 Green lasers are far worse than the red pointers we often see. This is becoming a daily occurrence. Luckily I have never had it happen to me, although I have had fireworks shot at me...never lasers. I could not even imagine how you would handle this in a really unstable aircraft..like an R22. How do you recover from being blinded? Let alone getting your night vision back..I see more and more powerful lasers advertised all the time, so its only going to get worse. Fly safe, Goldy Quote
rmiller4292 Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 Goldy, The feds/ATC were notified and the case file was handed to them....was out of my hands...personally I think the kid learned his lesson when the group of police cars arrived at his house and informed him and his mother that he could be looking at a serious criminal charge... Ryan Quote
ADRidge Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 I could not even imagine how you would handle this in a really unstable aircraft..like an R22. How do you recover from being blinded? Let alone getting your night vision back.. That's about the scariest thought I've had today, Goldy. It never ceases to amaze me what kind of stupid stuff people will do to/in/around aircraft. Quote
Future206Pilot Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 although I have had fireworks shot at me... How do you go abouts that situation? You obviously wouldn't want to hang around much longer there... Is that pretty much the same as shooting a gun at a copter? Quote
Goldy Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 That's about the scariest thought I've had today, Goldy. It never ceases to amaze me what kind of stupid stuff people will do to/in/around aircraft. Yeah, and the worst part is the NTSB will list the cause of the crash as "pilot error- failure to maintain control of the aircraft". rmiller- got no problem with the feds handling it, sorry if I sounded uppity. Got me thinking about the other case...if I buy a kid a gun and he uses it, I'm guilty of a couple crimes...If I buy him a laser and he uses it to commit a federal offense ?????? The parents could actually be looking at a charge for giving a minor an instrument that allowed him to commit a crime...hmmm..have to look at some case law to make that one stick! Any wannabe attorneys want to take that one on ? Goldy Quote
Goldy Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 How do you go abouts that situation? You obviously wouldn't want to hang around much longer there... Is that pretty much the same as shooting a gun at a copter? When flying over Pacoima (nice part of LA) on July 3rd, at night, I think you should expect it ! Luckily the home brew stuff never gets to 100 feet, much less 200 . But its strange seeing them come right up at you ! Goldy Quote
rmiller4292 Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 Goldy, No problem man.....Actually the parents would be the ones liable....feds are not going to lock up a 13 year old...What we discussed was the fact that the 13yo was not being malicious with his actions, reckless at most. Quote
EC120AV8R Posted December 27, 2007 Author Posted December 27, 2007 Goldy, The feds/ATC were notified and the case file was handed to them....was out of my hands...personally I think the kid learned his lesson when the group of police cars arrived at his house and informed him and his mother that he could be looking at a serious criminal charge... Ryan We have a state statue for lasing aircraft (for you California aviators it's Penal Code 247.5, store that away in case you have a similar experience), which I don't think will have too much impact on this kid. Where he is in deep kimshee, is with the feds. We had to do the obligatory FAA, FBI and DHS notifications. The last time this happened to one of our crews, the guy got hit with a $100K civil penalty. This kids parents could be liable for similar. Quote
EC120AV8R Posted December 27, 2007 Author Posted December 27, 2007 EC120AV8R Are lights just naturally attracted to you? It's like the whole moth to a light phenomenon...only I guess the light is attracted to the moth in this case Quote
EC120AV8R Posted December 27, 2007 Author Posted December 27, 2007 When flying over Pacoima (nice part of LA) on July 3rd, at night, I think you should expect it ! Luckily the home brew stuff never gets to 100 feet, much less 200 . But its strange seeing them come right up at you ! Goldy We had a guy launch some big old bottle rockets at us on July 4th. The first one detonated at about our altitude (800') at about 11 o'clock in very close proximity to us. We made a hard right, turned on the search light (yeah, yeah, 206, I know...again with the light ) and it stopped. Of course, there was a zillion people on the beach, so we couldn't tell who it was. I called for a unit, and as luck would have it, there was a couple of officers on the next block, when they were about on scene, I killed the light, the guy started up with the bottle rockets again. This time, he didn't see the officers standing nearby to be witnesses. He went to jail and everyone lived happily ever after . Quote
negative balance Posted December 27, 2007 Posted December 27, 2007 CRS Report from Congress on the topic of lasers pointed at aircraft And another against David W Banach USA. V. David W Banach. Quote
fulldownauto Posted December 28, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 (edited) That sounds dramatic! Oh, wait, I remember that. . . My only war story. Well, other than the time. . . -J- *Edited to add, 'I appreciate your courtesy sir' We had a guy launch some big old bottle rockets at us on July 4th. The first one detonated at about our altitude (800') at about 11 o'clock in very close proximity to us. We made a hard right, turned on the search light (yeah, yeah, 206, I know...again with the light ) and it stopped. Of course, there was a zillion people on the beach, so we couldn't tell who it was. I called for a unit, and as luck would have it, there was a couple of officers on the next block, when they were about on scene, I killed the light, the guy started up with the bottle rockets again. This time, he didn't see the officers standing nearby to be witnesses. He went to jail and everyone lived happily ever after . Edited December 28, 2007 by fulldownauto Quote
Future206Pilot Posted December 28, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 We had a guy launch some big old bottle rockets at us on July 4th. The first one detonated at about our altitude (800') at about 11 o'clock in very close proximity to us. We made a hard right, turned on the search light (yeah, yeah, 206, I know...again with the light ) Quote
Goldy Posted December 28, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 He went to jail and everyone lived happily ever after . I live for helping people like that !! (help them into jail I mean) Quote
EC120AV8R Posted December 28, 2007 Author Posted December 28, 2007 That sounds dramatic! Oh, wait, I remember that. . . My only war story. Well, other than the time. . . -J- *Edited to add, 'I appreciate your courtesy sir' That's right, I forgot you were with us! Ahhh, the memories. Quote
JDHelicopterPilot Posted December 30, 2007 Posted December 30, 2007 This happens more often now sadly. I was going through the NASA Aviation Safety reports online and read a similar incident. The Captain had been hit with a laser and went blind and the FO had to land the plane and take him to the hospital. In fact, those of you who are CSI Miami fans may recal an episode in which this happened and the plane crashed and what not. Can happen to any of us and I think more needs to be done to protect pilots as it may be just a matter of time before the worst happens. JD Quote
helonorth Posted December 30, 2007 Posted December 30, 2007 This happens more often now sadly. I was going through the NASA Aviation Safety reports online and read a similar incident. The Captain had been hit with a laser and went blind and the FO had to land the plane and take him to the hospital. In fact, those of you who are CSI Miami fans may recal an episode in which this happened and the plane crashed and what not. Can happen to any of us and I think more needs to be done to protect pilots as it may be just a matter of time before the worst happens. JDYou kind of freak me out by bringing up an episode of a TV show and putting it out like a real occurrance! CSI Miami? Guess what? IT DIDN'T REALLY HAPPEN! Quote
TheLorax Posted December 31, 2007 Posted December 31, 2007 he's just giving an example. have you read the rest of the thread because those other incidents DID happen. what is your problem? Quote
helonorth Posted December 31, 2007 Posted December 31, 2007 No problem. Just that it is NOT an example. It's a TV show. Quote
LB11 Posted January 2, 2008 Posted January 2, 2008 Unfortunately, there are probably a lot of kids who will take it as an example and try it for themselves.... Quote
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