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Laser Warnings Planned for Out-of-Bounds Pilots
akadruid writes "No, it's not a new 'Star Wars' system: The US Pentagon and NORAD are using lasers to warn off pilots flying into restricted airspace, according to Wired magazine. I wonder if they got the idea from the FBI, who charged a New Jersey man under anti-terror laws for doing this?" The system is not yet in operation (but could be as soon as next month), and according to NORAD, their system has been found safe for pilots' eyes.
...RTFA.
Yes, it's ironic and ha-ha funny and all considering the instances of lasers being shined into cockpits as pranks.
But:
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said its laser warning system will start in 30 to 45 days. The low-intensity lights are less powerful than the ones that prompted warnings, and tests have shown they are safe for the eyes, according to NORAD.
NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said the laser-based warning system someday could replace fighter jets as a way to warn pilots to stay away from the Capitol and the White House.
Hundreds of small private planes [i.e., not commercial jetliners] have strayed into the restricted airspace in Washington, a 15.75-mile radius around the Washington Monument.
In some cases, NORAD has had to divert or scramble fighter jets to escort them away from the area at a cost of $30,000 to $50,000 each time, Kucharek said.
The challenge for NORAD will be to educate pilots that the red-red-green flashing laser beams mean they're flying in restricted airspace.
Isn't looking for a new or novel notification system for myriad planes that may not be able to immediately contacted via radio or identified by radar or other means a good thing? And one that mitigates the need to divert or scramble fighters at great costs?
And yes, I suppose someone could build a system to emulate the NORAD system as a joke/hoax/prank/whatever, as no doubt dozens of drooling slashdotters are anxious to post to echo Timothy, but then, it would be:
- First of all, very unlikely to be encountered, statistically, and when it did happen, it would be:
- Not anywhere near restricted airspace, meaning it would be recognized as a prank to be ignored
- In the case of much of DC around the capitol, in restricted airspace anyway, and therefore moot
- Likely that instances that would cause significant confusion and/or be mistaken for a legitimate NORAD warning would be about as prevalent as current laser pranks. That is to say, not prevalent at all, compared with the total number of flights.
So in sum, this is a very good idea and not at all surprising.
Further the fact that a man has been (rightfully) charged with a crime for shining a fucking laser at a plane like a dumbass has absolutely nothing to do with a safe, non-obtrusive, well-designed warning system that coincidentally also uses lasers because of their utility that is only invoked if a pilot strays into restricted airspace in the first place, which are likely to be small, private planes, as indicated in the article, and NOT commercial carriers with experienced pilots who know, and have the tools, to stay out of restricted airspace.
What happens when the guy who's supposed to be monitoring the airspace gets bored?
My other Sig is
Good "test" of how effective lasers were to blind pilots is at Equipped.com.
(First post!!!)
They probably send out F-16s to do that.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
See http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2005/050408 laser.html
for more information.
By that I mean, why just flash red-red-green. They could also indicate the best direction to turn to get out of the airspace as quickly as possible:
Red-red-green means turn right. Red-green means turn left. Red-red means stay straight. Green-green (for a few seconds) means you are now clear of the airspace.
the Dunedan
It's amazing how the pilots can look out the window and see the ground. Wonder how that works?
If a pilot is lost or confused, blinding him with a bright light is going to help him a lot.
The signal to the pilot will be:
"Please fly what's left of your plane out of the restric... oh.... never mind."
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
Sharks wanted for air traffic control duties. No previous aviation knowledge required but any laser-wearing experience would be advantageous.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
So, now the terrorists can shine lasers (less-powerful ones) at planes if they want the pilot to take a different route.
The majority of air traffic in the no-fly zone in D.C. is generally low. You have Dulles, BWI, Reagen, military, etc. Visit the Lincoln Memorial to see what I mean. Traffic to Dulles is extremely high.
I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.
This came up in some of the other articles.
"OMG, how could you shine a laser from the ground when the windows are on the *top of the plane*?!?!??!!11111one"
Um. I hope you can realized that pilots still have a line of sight to the ground for great distances around them, and only can't see the ground directly underneath/behind them for a comparatively small area.
The warnings would have a good chance of being initiated from an area for which the pilot has direct line of sight, or at least can diverge enough to get to the windshield or some other surface on the plane and be instantly noticed by the pilot.
pretty soon when an airplane gets close to a restricted zone, it'll slowly navigate away from it. the closer you get to the zone, the more it turns away, so by the time you're about to hit the zone, you're flying alongside it or away from it. and this auto-pilot system will be mandatory to all commercial jets.
HD Trailers
"We hope that you do take caution as you fly out of restricated airspace with your remaining eye"
I said across her nose, not up it!!!
Pvt. Asshole: I'm sorry sir, I'm doing my best
This to me sounds like an invisible fence for pilots, which isn't such a bad idea. This to me sounds like a novel way of dealing with malfunctions when other forms of communication are not available. I worry, though, that this kind of technology might be overused though, like let's have lasers advertisements or laser boundaries marking points of interest outside of a plane for passengers. I guess I wonder since visual distractions will only increase, whether this is just a stop gap measure into they can come up with a less potentially temporarily solution. There is so much light stimulus out there anyway, I wonder if there isn't another, less potentially universal way of creating a modern day lighthouse. Like a directed sonic screeching noise that would reverberate in the cockpit, a bit like those grooves on the side of the road when you are nodding off on a turnpike.
it make more sense to actually send a message to the pilots? I don't think that having a red/green laser beamed at them would be very smart(what would prevent a prankster from doing it?) and i don't think that as a pilot having a laster beamed at you is the most comfortable thing - panic?
and is it just a coincidence that they come up with this idea after they lockup a guy for beaming a laser at a plane?
We allow laser enforcement of air traffic laws. Pretty soon, this includes the use of laser swords. The governments contract out to the Joint European Defense Institute to do the enforcing. Pretty soon, these laser-sword weilding do-gooders in their cool-looking robes start meddling in everyone's affairs, not just airplanes.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The FBI have charged NORAD under anti-terror laws for pointing lasers at aircrafts.
"Ok, now I'm going to shine a big frickin laser directly into your dome, please try to relax. Greeeaaat.. so, are you feeling blind? No? That's truly excellent. Ok, now I'm going to shine a slightly bigger frickin laser directly into your dome..."
And if the plane decides not to comply, the laser can be used to guide smart bombs :-D
Cheers,
Adolfo
I first thought it said that they were doing to use Rodan (instead of Norad) to stop out-of-bounds planes. Come to think of it, the Rodan solution might be more effective.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
10 bucks says SCO files a patent for the process of warning a user using the red-red-green flash.
It would be hard to show previous use artwork.....and could be a ready cash cow.
They should get one of these gadgets. I hear they're becoming pretty popular. It's even USB!
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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I'm surprised no one mentioned it here yet ...
Many of the laser sightings last year appear to have been part of U.S. government tests of the system...
And anyone who doubts that, just search news archives of late last year - the U.S. govt publically acknowledged doing tests around the same time/areas of the "mysterious" laser sightings.
Ron Bennett
Of course, the first crispy airplane that didn't know because of fog, etc... might put a dent in the plan.
--Mike--
It just says that the light wouldn't be as intense as in the cases where people have gotten in trouble with their laser pointers.
That seems a little hard to believe at first, since a green laser pointer's power is only something in the milliwatts, and the AOPA article mentioned in another reply (this is a fixed URL, incidentally) talks about a 1.5 watt laser. But that's reflected/diffused to create a 100-foot-wide line of light in a circle 10 miles from the laser, so I guess by sending the light off in all directions (not at all like your normal use of a laser) it's possible that it wouldn't be a problem.
Out here in Hawaii, the summit of Mauna Kea is an "informal" no-fly zone. There aren't any major flight paths that would cross it anyway, and since there are telescopes on it, folks have basically just agreed not to go flying over when we're trying to see things.
This has become a little more important in recent years, since the folks over at Keck use a laser to ionize stuff in the sodium layer of the atmosphere and create an artificial "guide star" that they can then measure the light from to correct for atmospheric interference. This is part of their adaptive optics, I think. That's a 15-watt laser, which could really ruin a pilot's day.
And Gemini North, across the summit from Keck, is about to start playing with a big bright toy too.
They've got a pool of "plane spotters" who spend half a night standing outside on the summit with a walkie-talkie. If they see any planes that look like they might get in the way, they radio in to turn off the laser before anything gets zapped.
I'm going to try to do that, one of these days. Goodness knows I'm up there enough as it is.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captin speaking, if you will look out the right side of the plane and the laser eye surgery will begin.
If Practice Makes Perfect, And No One is Perfect, Why Practice?
From my knowledge of this proposed system and my experience flying in the airspace around D.C. this is intendend for civil aviation aircraft...most of which do not fly at very high altitudes (generally below 18,000ft and most even lower than that).
The question about this proposed system that I have is this (having flown inside of the Washington D.C. ADIZ numerous times):
The airspaces are designated to keep potential trouble makers out of those areas. The point of scrambling the fighters to intercept a violator is to have eyes on and provide the option to take this aircraft out if it is determined to have hostile intentions. If there will no longer be any interceptors coming, any hostile aircraft can simply continue on its present course and the interceptors may not make it in time should they be sent later on. So what is the point of the laser system at all? If we must be so afraid to allow this airspace to be restricted shouldn't it warrant someone there actually guarding it with shoot down capabilities?
It is my understanding that this system is intended to drive down the costs of sending out the interceptor aircraft. If those costs are not worthy to protect whatever airspace is restricted, perhaps the danger is not that great and the airspace should be opened. I believe this proposed laser system will do nothing but cost money itself, irritate civil aviators, and provide a false security for protecting the restricted airspace (which is not clear if it should really be restricted in the first place if the costs of sending intercept aircraft are not worth the protection of this space). We seem to be left with a restricted airspace that is prohibited for vital national security reasons which is merely protected by a system that says 'don't go near there' 0r something to that affect.
If they were flying when there was sufficient visual obscuration to the point that a laser weren't visible, they had damn well better be on an IFR flight plan, at which point the responsibility for keeping them out of restricted airspace gets at least partially transferred to air traffic control.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
"Hi, my name is Bill, and I'll be your captain today... We'll be having a smooth flight into--"
*BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP*
"--ah, we may be experiencing some turbulence as NORAD has acquired laser-guided missile lock on the aircraft. Please note that the fasten-seatbelt sign is illuminated at this time..."
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
Anti aircraft guns maybe? They'll turn any general aviation plane into confetti in a few seconds.
There is restricted airspace everywhere, and usually a violation thereof means a serious consequence. My flight school had to modify all its flightplans into Medicine Hat, Alberta (I live in Calgary) because some genius forgot to check his chart for the military restricted zone. My point in this long rambling post is that, if you know there is restricted airspace nearby, try really really hard to stay the fuck away from it. If you don't know you're flying near restricted airspace, then you fucked up during the planning stage.
Further to the above info, there are a number of different types of airspace that you should stay away from.
In Australia, outside of the normal classes A-G of airspace we have Prohibited, Restricted and Danger areas.
Basically, Prohibited means stay away, we don't care who you are, go away! I think the last Prohibited area was around Woomera, but was downgraded to a Restricted area.
Restricted areas can be active 24 hours, or activated at various times. Most military flying bases will have associated restricted training areas. Weapon ranges and military exercise areas also tend to have restricted areas as well - notified by NOTAM. If the restricted area is not for you, or you do not have specific permission from those who created it, then stay away!
Danger areas are sections of airspace that you should be careful when flying through, due to things such as gliders, mining explosive blasts, remote control aircraft, etc. If you have no good reason to be there, then don't go there. There is nothing stopping you from being there, but you probably should avoid it if you can.
When flying near international borders, ADIZ (Air Defence Zones) boundaries can cause a problem, particularly if you will get shot down for accidentally intruding, and should be treated as Prohibited areas unless you have specific approval to be there.
InfoSec that matters, when it counts.
Um, wouldn't it be easier to fit pilots with electric-shock dog-collars and setup a few thousand miles of invisible fence?
they could just spend an extra coupla quid and put a shape cutout (like, of an arrow) over the laser, so it draws an arrow pointing which direction to go! My mate had all sorts of shapes he could project using his laser over a distance, smiley face (could mean "okay you're going the right way now"), a love heart, a cat, an erm... tin of beans...
-2A
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia