So I guess you wouldn't be interested in buying my Tom Clancy collection??? ;) There have been reports about the old Soviet Union pointing high powered lasers at our reconnaissance aircraft in hopes of blinding our pilots. This talk has been around for years. Laser beams, unless highly focused will spread out over great distances. We regularly use lasers for sighting applications on weapon systems and the further out from the device, the bigger the dot. A powerful laser at a miles distance or so, will most likely have a large dot which reduces the need for precision aiming. Guy Quoting Michael Carnes <moogiebird@earthlink.net>:
Unless this was an incredibly unfortunate coincidence, it would seem that this laser would have to be mounted quite well with some sort of sight. Just think about the accuracy required to hit a pupil with a pencil-thin beam from a mile or two away. This is especially true if the light was held on-target for any period of time.
Back before I realized Tom Clancy couldn't write for beans, I read a book of his in which a pilot was intentionally blinded by a bright light. Yeesh.
Michael
I can't speak to the new green lasers but I read a piece about the effects of red laser pointers on eyes that surprised me.
In the study a number of people with malignant tumors associated with their eyes volunteered to stare directly into red laser pointers. The eyes were going to have to be removed eventually anyway so I guess they figured they had nothing to loose and could contribute to science.
The surprising thing was the red laser pointers had no permanent effects on the eyes.
Don't know if the results would be the same for the new green lasers.
Patrick
Joe Bauman wrote:
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, Joee
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