Quote:
Originally Posted by Cerberus
if anyone here still thinks a handheld laser can bring down a plane, take a look at DansData and his take on lasers here;
http://www.dansdata.com/nexus.htm
towards the end is this important bit;
So thanks to a little thing called beam divergence even with a monster laser with 300mw output and a super steady hand the damage range is 163metres! if you were to believe the media crap fuelled by the politicians every kid with a laser pointer is a terrorist with a weapon of mass destruction! |
This just means it's very hard to cause eye damage from a direct hit with the beam. However temporarily dazzling someone driving, say, (see below) is the real problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Robinson
I've been "flashed" while driving , at speed and at night on the Newcastle to Sydney Expressway ....
...
This was nothing near as trivial as getting highbeams from an approaching vehicle.
|
I think this is a more real, and immediate danger of lasers than a commercial jet whose pilot is pretty much a caretaker as the plane does all the work. The car driver is pretty much at eye level and at potentially close range, whereas it would be hard for the laser to be at eye level with a pilot. (I'm definitely not discounting danger to pilots from lasers so please don't misconstrue me).