Pilots Claiming to be "Blinded by Laser Christmas Displays" (house)

[steven_h]

AT 13,000 FEET!

OKay... this is the most incredible thing I've heard today, and THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING!

FAA Investigates Laser Holiday Light Display As Possible Hazard « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth


It's impossible! This class of laser travels up to about 4-500 feet at most. Do you know how powerful a laser must be, after traveling 13,000 feet through the atmosphere, to have the ability to blind somebody, let alone the crew?

Are these crew members hunting for time off to heal?

Is there some underlying motive for Kelly of the FAA to get involved?

Talking about the home owners: “I’d tell them to stop immediately because first of all they’re endangering people’s lives and second, they’re endangering people’s health and third, they themselves could end up in criminal prosecution,” said Kelly.

Yea, let's arrest and charge the homeowners for some fictitious blinding of crew members 13,000 feet STRAIGHT UP! Last time I checked, the lasers are pointed sideways at the home. Throw in the angle of divergence, and it goes from impossible to a fantasy.

It's just more stupidity from an ABC, based on zero substantive proof.






Could this be simply because they're CHRISTMAS LIGHTS?

[Hemlock140]

I agree that in most cases this seems like a real stretch of reality.

Several of our neighbors have those on, and while they are all mounted to hit the house, some at the top do go beyond the roofline. In our area at 30 miles from the nearest airport, planes are still way too high to be affected, but in cities nearer to the runways, some of those stray beams could easily hit a pilot landing or taking off at only 2,000 feet over homes, and the general aviation planes/helicopters may be at only 500 feet..