Green Laser Pointers And Aircraft

With the increasing popularity of high power green laser pointers, there are more and more reports of lasers being pointed at airplanes and helicopters. In 2008 alone there a number of reports that received wide spread media coverage. One such case in the United Arab Emirates capital of Dubai, two Arab men were charged, tried and convicted with pointing a laser beam at an aircraft during landing.

Background information on lasers

Very simply laser beams are very concentrated and narrow beams of light and lasers can have a range measured in tens of kilometers. A high power green laser pointer may have a range of 20 to 30 kilometers but it will not have any power or be dangerous at this range.reen laser pointers not red, blue or orange laser pointers are the main lasers pointed at aircraft because green is much more visible to the human eye than the other colors.

Real and imagined dangers

There are no commercially available and very few if any military lasers that can do physical damage to aircraft. The three main concerns and dangers to a pilot’s vision of pointing green laser pointers at aircraft is distraction, causing glare and temporary flash blindness.

In summary

For the laser hobbyist who does not deliberately target an aircraft, green laser pointers are safe to use out doors at night. A good precaution when pointing lasers at the sky is to first check the sky to make sure it is free of aircraft and avoid using green laser pointers around airports.

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