Slashdot Mirror
FBI: $10,000 Reward For Info On Anyone Who Points a Laser At an Aircraft
coondoggie writes "Here's a good idea: The FBI has launched a targeted, 60-day program that will offer up to a $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of anyone who intentionally aims a laser at an aircraft. The FBI said the laser-pointing scourge continues to grow at an alarming rate. Since the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration began tracking laser strikes in 2005, there has been ridiculous 1,000% increase in the number of laser pointing/aircraft incidents. Last year, 3,960 laser strikes against aircraft were reported — an average of almost 11 incidents per day."
No, this is the right approach. Every time you caught someone pointing a laser pointer to a plane, fine the idiot to bankruptcy to cover the rewards and potential damages to the crew, then throw some terrorism charges and lock them behind bars for 20 years and the number of incidents WILL get down.
The issue here is idiots failing to understand the consequences of their actions and the potential damages they can cause. A harsh punishment will raise awareness on the problem and once enough awareness is achieved incidents will go down. Not to mention that finding and disposing of morons will potentially become a booming industry and we all benefit from finding and disposing of morons (even temporarily).
I do not wear sunglasses when landing at night.
This is very definitely a good idea, however I don't mind also taking morons who are deliberately messing with a vehicle carrying dozens to hundreds of live human beings and giving them a time out in a cell to think about why that's a stupid thing to do.
Macintosh obviously.
Cretins are pointing these things at planes that are in the final stage of landing. And yes, at night these are enough to momentarily blind the pilot. Add a gust of wind or some other problem and you have a nice mass-murder.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Felony prosecution. 25 years to life. No parole. Must register on the "laser pointing offenders" list. Driver's license suspended. Credit Score cut to one. Automatic bankruptcy. All assets forfeited. House fuel air bombed, bulldozed, soil salted and paved over with pig iron, rocks and low grade cement.
Must stand on a chair and sing the "I AM A VERY BAD PERSON" song while applying for any job. Five million dollar fine paid in equal daily installments for 35 years. Not allowed to date, marry or smile at anyone.
Must appear in at least five television commercials a year (at own expense) to announce "I am a poopy face" while dressed up like a cartoon airplane and being physically kicked in the ass by a sunglasses-wearing security officer with a blinking overlay of name and social security number.
If not 18 yet, then the parents and grandparents are all prosecuted instead.
And no laughing.
Based on my experience with these things at a beach, yes, they're very bright at night, and far, far brighter than instrument lights. I'm not talking $5 laser pointer, but $30 higher output (still tens of mW) toys.
Has anyone ever caused harm on US highways with a laser pointer? If not, is it ok if they hang around on your route home and shine it in your eyes as you drive by? Again, based on my experience at the beach, having these things shined in my eyes as I'm driving would be a problem and a hazard. Does someone actually have to be hurt or killed before we say stop?
There is nothing analogous in copyright infringement. Here we are talking about a moron intentionally putting hundred of life in danger for his or hers own amusement. Thats criminal behavior and should be prosecuted in a criminal court and a person that fails to understand something as basic as that SHOULD be locked away were it does not endanger others.
And yes, I'm aware that harsh punishments is sometimes overkill, but in this case is deserved.
The *potential* damage could be a few hundred dead people at the end of a runway. It's not that they're damaging to the eye, they're distracting. When cats start flying aircraft, maybe people will be prosecuted.
Check out the gifs on this page.. I definitely wouldn't want to try landing a plane in that situation.
http://www.laserpointersafety....
35 incidents where pilots required medical attention. There's your damage.
There are generally two ways to approach safety.
1) Wait for consequences and then try to fix the cause
2) Identify dangerous situations and fix them before people get hurt
Either approach can be taken too far to the extreme, but in this case there have already been issues and the frequency of the incidents are increasing. I would rather stop the problem before a plane falls out of the sky. At 11 incidents PER DAY, statistics favor something happening.
One could argue that "kids will be kids", but at what point is a kid playing with matches not considered safe. Tools exist and many tools are dangerous and it takes education and awareness to help people know how to use things properly.
Personally, I think they should make an example out of a few of them and have them charged with 200 counts of attempted murder. It would certainly get some awareness to the issue.
Brought to you by: "Al"toids - the curiously weird mint.
1. Find "80-IQ drooling moron to point a laser at an aircraft"
2. Give them a laser pointer
3. Show them an airplane
4. Profit ~ $10,000
The 'murican dream.
Night landings are, by their nature, more difficult and more dangerous than daytime landings. Assuming visual conditions, nearly everything is dependent upon being able to continuously see runway lights. About 10 minutes prior to landing, the standard procedure is to dim everything in the cockpit to it's lowest setting. The goal of this is to make sure the pilot's eyes are dilated as much as possible to see the runway lights and land safely.
About 5 years ago, I was landing at Chicago Dupage airport. About 1 mile from the runway threshold and about 500 ft above the ground, I was repeatedly hit by a bright red laser. Immediately after the first bright flash from the laser, I felt like I'd just walked from daylight into a dark room. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't see any instruments (Remember, they're all dimmed as low as possible) and the runway lights were suddenly very dim. After the second and third time, I couldn't see the runway lights anymore. My only choice was to add power, pull up and hope that I was still flying straight. I overflew most of the airport and remember finally getting good vision back about the time I was over the subdivision north of the airport. That subdivision is about 3 miles from where it all started. I turned over the subdivision and landed on a perpendicular runway.
I then released a torrent of profanities and considered all of the most painful ways to kill someone if I could ever find the #@(#*$@(#*$@(*##$(@* that hit me with that laser.
I'm all for higher penalties for this crap. It's probably already killed people. We don't know for sure because plane crash victims don't tend to be very talkative.