And the number of incidents are rising.
Given the lack of forensic evidence, either the asswipes have to be caught in the act or someone has to be ratted out. A sufficiently high reward might take care of the latter case.
As I see it, here is what is going to happen: The number of incidents will rise. Since they seem to be green lasers of significant power, legislation will be introduced to outlaw possession of any laser more powerful than a laser pointer in civilian hands. Green lasers will be outlawed, period. There will be licenses for industrial use, for educational use and for security use (law enforcement, military).
Cat Pawtector!
5 hours ago
6 comments:
Isn't laser light a uniform wavelength? I'm no laser scientist, so I may be incorrect in thinking that mass-produced lasers using same lasing parts will emit the same wavelength. But if that's so then why couldn't they issue green-laser-absorbing goggles to pilots? Would the absence of that band of green make a significant difference to necessary visual acuity?
It might, given that wingtip lights are green on the right side.
Or it might not. It's a good idea.
The problem with outlawing lasers is the same as with the notion of outlawing slingshots -- anybody can build one with off-the-shelf parts. Lasers can be built with the electronics equivalent of forked sticks and rubber bands.
Of course, outlawing their sale (thus requiring people to build their own) would at least keep them out of the hands of utter cretins...
- Badtux the Electronics Penguin
"The incidents have involved commercial airliners, private planes, law enforcement helicopters and military aircraft." Commercial airliners are listed first. Does that mean they have the greatest involvement? I'm wondering if law enforcement isn't getting the lions share, and are getting it from the drug business.
I seriously doubt the latter, Charles. The last thing that criminals want to do is draw attention to themselves from law enforcement. My guess is that they're just collateral damage here. And as for commercial airliners being the main target -- they're *big*, and they always fly the same flight path in and out of major airports, e.g. you know that a plane taking off from the Phoenix airport is going to be going out the Salt River riverbed, because that's where they're legally obligated to be due to noise and environmental reasons, same as commercial airliners taking off from the San Jose CA airport are going to be following the railroad tracks out of town because that's the warehouse district and that's where they're supposed to be to keep the noise down for the residential areas. Smaller aircraft, on the other hand, are both harder to see in the first place, and could be anywhere rather than concentrated on these narrow flight paths. So it's no mistake that they put "commercial airliners" first in the list...
- Badtux the Flightless Penguin
BadTux, as you say, the chuckleheads aren't going to build them.
Charles, small airplanes at night can be hard to spot. Besides the reasons that BadTux mentioned, small airplanes often do not have all of the lights that large airplanes do. Only one flashing light (rotating beacon, pulse light, or strobe) is required and if it is on the top side of the airplane, it can be hard to see from the ground.
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