Joe, I had the stray beam of a green laser contact my right eye out at SPOC one evening and as would be expected, I turned my head immediately on contact and was without good vision in that eye for the better part of an hour. I can't imagine anyone staring into such a beam long enough to cause damage. But I could be wrong. Since this unfortunate event, I seem to be able to see better out of the eye so I'm thinking of looking this character up at the next SPOC star party and having him do it to my left eye. ;) Only kidding. The rules should apply to lasers, even low powered ones, as they do ANY weapon. "NEVER point these at anything you don't intend to harm". That would include annoying, low flying, flare dropping F-16's out in the west desert. Never happened... ;) Guy Quoting Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com>:
Hi all, a fellow reporter would like to know about the power of lasers to harm pilots' eyes. A Delta pilot apparently suffered damage to his eyes while flying into SLC the evening of Sept. 21. I know that sometimes people following our astronomy hobby use lasers to point out celestial objects at star parties, etc. What we don't know is whether these things are powerful enough to damage the eyes of pilots. This incident happened one day after first-quarter moon so I doubt anything was going on with astronomy at that time. But if you can help with descriptions of how powerful or weak the lasers are, etc., please give Jenifer Dobner a call at the paper at 237-2122. Thanks, Joe
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