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Laser Injures Delta Pilot's Eye

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the scary-thought dept.

stormfish writes "The Washington Times is reporting that laser light from an unknown source injured a pilot's eye as he was flying a Boeing 737 from Dallas to Salt Lake City. A 5 milliwatt laser pointer is strong enough to damage a person's eye, and stronger laser's are not that hard to come by. Unfortunately, having pilots wear colored laser safety glasses would be impractical as that would make it impossible to interpret the colored symbols on paper maps and cockpit displays."

13 of 772 comments (clear)

  1. Sharks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did anyone think to check the frickin' sharks in the Great Salt Lake?

  2. Oh the irony by BabyDave · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nothing for you to see here.

  3. Caution! by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do not look at laser with remaining eye.

    How many times do we need to tell people that

    --
    500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
  4. Hmm... by Raagshinnah · · Score: 5, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new flying shark overlords

    *cringes in terror*

  5. Re:Easy to get these lasers... by Mr+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hearby declare the parent post to be a threat to National Security! You can't just go around posting links to dangerous things on the web! Think of the chaos! Think of the humanity! What about the CHILDREN!

    --
    Never confuse volume with power.
  6. Re:Easy to get these lasers... by hhlost · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hell, we could invade all the countries who might be trying to obtain them. But let's start with the ones that have oil.

  7. Right out of a Clancy Book... by maybeHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think it was "Debt of Honour" where CIA operatives near the airport use lasers to blind japanese (don't ask) AWACS pilots, making them crash their planes. Coincidentally, that book ends with a airliner being crashed into the White House. Soo, what does this mean? It's obvious - Tom Clancy is providing The Terrorists (tm) with ideas and needs to be put in jail ASAP!

  8. Re:"Colored laser safety glasses" by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
    > Having pilots wear coloured safety glasses wouldn't be impractical, it would be impossible; the only colour that would block all laser frequencies is black.

    Simple. Equip every pilot with a pair of Joo-Janta 2000 Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses, that turn totally black at the first indication of danger! Joo-Janta 2000 Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses: Another fine product of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation!

  9. Re:Easy to get these lasers... by gurps_npc · · Score: 5, Funny

    Better start with the ones that have oil that we sold lasers to.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  10. Re:Easy to get these lasers... by FLEB · · Score: 5, Funny

    -- There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.

    Soap, ballot, jury, ammo... LASER!

    --
    Information wants to be free.
    Entertainment wants to be paid.
    You just want to be cheap.
  11. Re:I've seen this too -- it happened to me. by serjinn · · Score: 5, Funny

    No it has nothing to do with the energy. It's actually quite simple:

    green = Rebels
    red = Imperials

    Clearly you were attacked by one of the good guys.

  12. Re:Easy to get these lasers... by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Funny

    Potential future Darwin Award nominee. Investigating the effects of lasers by looking directly into the beam.

  13. Re:Easy to get these lasers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not just the laser pointers. All pointers can be harmful to the eye.