Lasers vs. Aircraft: Do We Deed Regulation?

I presume that you are not from Australia. There are already laws in force here due to lasers being used by idiots who want to be a nuisance. Not just laser pointers, but also surveying lasers with sufficient beam strength to be more than a distraction.

You ask "How strict should the laws be?" I'd want the same protection (laws and punishment) in place as there would be if someone in the street pulled out a gun and aimed it at my face.

It seems to me that the cheap laser pointers could be made with a beam angle that would disperse them to an innocuous level in 200-400 feet or so. In addition, they can be limited to 1 milliwatt.

Higher power lasers might need a signed licence (another nightmare) or an interdiction on any consumer sales..

The other aspect is to use the news to report the police catching the perpetrators very quickly since the beam shows the source clearly. I know that is is hard to back track a laser in clear air, but the loons who shine them on planes may not be smart enough and will be deterred.

It seems to me that the cheap laser pointers could be made with a beam angle that would disperse them to an innocuous level in 200-400 feet or so.

Its called beam divergence;

http://www.rp-photonics.com/beam_divergence.html

And think you would mean to go back to penlight pointers .

These laser pointers were so available, a few years back a neighbor that I graduated High school with. he had a given his 6 year old daughter a laser point as a toy. I told him that was foolish and explained to him why. He did not realize how dangerous they were.

well, I mean laser pointers built with an intrinsic divergence, so any attempt to focus them results in in image of a certain size and not a point source image.

These modern white fluorescence based laser are ideal for this and can be made safe in this manner.

mono chromatic lasers would need to be built safe with an "event horizon" that determines their minimum spot size. Possibly a built in mechanism that degrades the convergence irreversibly so the light appears to come from spot of a size instead of a point source coherent laser source.

This would limit their uses and make them safer

The only whitelight lasers that I have seen are just as dangerous as single/ multi line lasers, depending on the power output. They usually contain RGB modules/ diodes combined, or are mixedgas(LARGE-frame; not pointers.) or supercontinuum. I've only seen one whitelight 'pointer' (home-made) . Are you referring to superbright LEDs, not lasers, maybe?

I have never believed, and still do not, that it is possible to legislate intelligence or morality. People will be stupid and evil to the extent they are uneducated to act better.

It's absurd to regulate such a useful tool that has already been sold to as many people as the low power laser pointer has. It would only "keep the honest people honest." Criminalize the use, not the tool and then publicize the consequences and a few cases of conviction.

As one commentator suggested, only the thoughtful law-abiding will be affected by regulation while the idiot scofflaws won't be affected. For examples of how stiff regulations affect anti-social/criminal behavior, see the results of banning firearm possession in Washington DC, California and Great Britain. In all cases, the responsible, law abiding are affected while the criminals ignore it and find alternatives - to which the cry invariably is for more intrusive, comprehensive and broader regulation, as the outcome of the first round failure. I vote to Punish the bad actor not the device or technology.

The military has faced a laser problem for a couple of decades. Two solutions were used for different situations. Cockpit windscreens with filters were used some, but goggles with filters were the primary protection. That makes more sense than relying on legislation alone, which I don not think would be very effective.

BE

There is a convention that outlaws laser blinding weapons. I expect fast acting optical shutters would serve.

I read decades ago of a military laser people/animal finder that would scan an area with a low intensity IR laser and when it detected a retroreflection it could make a judgement and possibly dump 500 watts down the beam. I think this led to the convention.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/1998/07/29/usint1194.htm

The goggles and windscreen filters used by the military are expensive and are not practical for most commercial and general aviation pilots. However, WEB LABS (Garland, Texas) has a process to fabricate economical sunglasses that will respond to a sudden burst or change in brightness and protect the vision of the wearer.

Off with their goolies!

Pointers can go up to 0.5 Watts these days, particularly in the 532nM (green) range.Alot depends on the quality and the precision of the optics. If somebody really wanted to do some damage to the eyballs... well, nevermind ..

As lasers can be dangerous, regulations should be implemented. The problem is not instating regulations but how to enforce them.

See How Lasers Work

also, if that pilot is landing that plane with only his eyesight out of the window, why have all that fly by instrument stuff they have.. Damn, they can land commercial airliners and huge military Jets in solid FOG. go figure