Man jailed for shining laser at chopper

Man jailed for shining laser at chopper

news.ninemsn.com.au

An Adelaide man has been jailed for shining a laser at an aircraft, with a judge describing the incident as a "disaster in the making".

The jailing comes after laser attacks on planes in Sydney prompted the federal government to ban the importation of laser pointers.

(visit the link for the full news article)

In Australia we are having problems daily with these laser pointers that the govermaent is now trying to ban them.

They also stated last week that if an aircraft was to crash due to a laser pointer that they woul be commiting mass murder and would be charged with that offense.

I would like to here if other countries are expreriencing the same problems?

news.ninemsn.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

I can't recal anything from the UK,but anyone who potentially blinds a pilot in flight deserves to be sent down. (unless of course it's aircraft 1 )

reply to post by cnm1976


They probably thought it was a gun using a laser for a sight.

Im sorry how do you get caught shining a laser at a chopper or a plane there 20 thousand feet up. he musta been ina huge open field or something.

the pilot must of not been that blinded to pick out the man

No. Just last week 6 planes landing at Sydney were hit by the laser pointers. When the police are notified they swarm the area in the hope of catching the people who are doing this stupid and dangerous act.

Originally posted by NWOmaskedman
Im sorry how do you get caught shining a laser at a chopper or a plane there 20 thousand feet up. he musta been ina huge open field or something.

the pilot must of not been that blinded to pick out the man

20,000 feet? the chopper was monitoring traffic!! more like 500 ft!


The world record helicopter flight is about 29,000ft - so choppers don't normally hang round at 20k

Originally posted by NWOmaskedman
Im sorry how do you get caught shining a laser at a chopper or a plane there 20 thousand feet up. he musta been ina huge open field or something.

the pilot must of not been that blinded to pick out the man

Ummm...cmon man. Point one...choppers don't go over 5000 feet for the most part. Second Point...they point at them at take off or landing when the planes/choppers at 1000ft off the ground taking off or landing...AKA, most important part of the flight!!!! Which means most dangerous.

Also, the pilots can give a general area, but my guess is someone (with common sense and manners, or a brain) sees this idiot pointing up in the air and calls the cops.

Bottom line you have to be an utter waste of life to take the time to do this knowing that you COULD cause a tragedy...and for what??????? The utter stupidity of people is unreal. Just imagine...

"hey joe lets go buy a laser pointer."
"for what dude"
"i don't know, lets go find a plane or chopper and point it at the pilot and see how bad it messes him up"
"awesome idea dude, that would be cool"
"haha, yeah bro"
"this is gonna be awesome"

YOU and I both know this type of idiotic conversation took place at some point somewhere....



[edit on 4/8/2008 by rcwj75]

It was and is a problem in the US. Some of these pointers have the potential to blind pilots for awhile, maybe permanently. They usually get away with it unless it IS a helicopter, because by the time the police get there they can't tell who did it or where it came from.

I recall seeing this on the news recently.

Its not good at all.
Also these are not your usual toy sort of laser pointers with the red beam that you make pretty shapes and things on your wall with.

These sorts of laser pointer have a green beam and are more commonly referred to as Astronomy Pointers.
The beam is significantly more powerful and you can light your smoke with one of them.

Originally posted by Omega85
and you can light your smoke with one of them.

Yheah, and one slight slip and you'll burn your retina out! - that would be one mental you tube video