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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
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
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.
"We hope that you do take caution as you fly out of restricated airspace with your remaining eye"
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.
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.
"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.
A GPS receiver that's FAA-certified for installation in an aircraft is a multi-thousand-dollar piece of technology, and there are literally thousands of aircraft out there that have no GPS on-board whatsoever. All these would have to be retrofitted, and a large number of experimental and homebuilt craft would have to be totally redesigned in order for a GPS system to be installed. Remember, not all aircraft even have electrical systems!
A handheld is fine (and much cheaper), but the FAA says they're not legal for navigation. They're simply an "aid to situational awareness." Furthermore, handhelds don't have a good way to alert the pilot if he/she is about to violate some kind of airspace, as they don't have a connection to the aircraft's audio system, and -- once again -- not all aircraft even HAVE audio systems.
Finally, desire does not make cash. I want a GPS in any airplane I fly, but that doesn't give the owners the money to put one in.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
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.
After 9-11, congress felt that their own office space was definitely important enough to be a terrorist target (strange, I though the terrorists passed up DC and hit the Pentagon instead...), and since our country could not survive without the current set of elected officials, they MUST protect themselves for humanity's sake.
So they decided that any aircraft within a 25000-square-mile area around DC (which includes no small number of airports) must file a special type of flight plan, remain in contact with ATC at all times, and must follow a whole laundry list of restrictions. It's called an ADIZ, and it's a royal PITA, can delay your flight for hours, and has ATC overtaxed to such a degree that flight safety has been seriously compromised on a surprisingly huge number of documented cases. This includes more than a few near-collisions at airports that were avoided only because the pilots were paying closer attention than ATC, while the controllers were busy with these extra restrictions. The situation is a string of disasters waiting to happen. Without the pilots' extra vigilance, the death toll for Congress's arrogance would already be in the hundreds.
In the mean time, there have been a large number of airspace infringements. These are generally caused by things like equipment malfunctions (eg. radio or transponder that goes bad in flight), unintentional flight path deviations (like being blown off course), and sometimes lack of knowledge about how damn huge this protected airspace really is. It's really a unique and unprecidented situation, and some older pilots don't know what to make of it. And on at least one high-profile occasion, the problem was the incompetence of the defense department.
In the near unanimous opinion of us non-congresspeople, the problem is the airspace itself. We're no safer--and in fact, many people's lives are often at risk because of it, including (and especially) all normal air passengers in and around DC. But rather than dismantling the airspace, they're working to strengthen it. This includes the recent addition of missile installations (whose sole purpose is to shoot down Americans), and now this laser warning system--none of which exists even around actual prohibited airspace.
What congress needs to learn--and what they'll never admit--is that congressional elected officials are (a) not a serious terrorist target, and (b) completely and absolutely expendable. We may even be better off if we were to wipe them out and start over.
Ironic subnote: I frequently fly my plane directly over NORAD without violating any airspace at all. In fact, I could fly it right down the tunnel and the only regulation I'd be breaking is the one about "500 feet from any structure, vessel, etc."
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea...."
RFC 1925