High-Powered Laser Pointers Pose Risk to Pilots
The laser guru, as he is known among colleagues, tinkers with the tools of the trade in the basement of his suburban Philadelphia home. Of the pile of parts on which he works, Samuel Goldwasser, 56, says, “You don’t ask how sausage is made.”
F.A.A.
The flash of a laser in a dark cockpit can cause temporary blindness or distract pilots during critical low-altitude flight.
F.A.A.
The Federal Aviation Administration led simulations of laser attacks on pilots.
Mr. Goldwasser, the author of the online guide called Sam’s Laser FAQ, knows so much about laser pointers — those handy devices used for making presentations, star gazing or even popping balloons as a party trick — that he could deliver a presentation on them without the aid of a laser pointer. So he was hardly surprised this week with the release of a report by the Federal Aviation Administration on a drastic increase in instances of lasers aimed at aircraft.
The sudden bright light in a darkened cockpit can cause temporary blindness or distract pilots during critical low-altitude flight.
“It’s a Pandora’s box, and we’ve been lucky that there haven’t been major incidents,” said Mr. Goldwasser, a retired professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania and now a consultant on lasers.
The F.A.A. said there were 2,836 instances of lasers aimed at airplanes in 2010, a ninefold increase over the past five years. Saying the agency could not sit around and wait for an airplane to crash, the F.A.A.’s administrator said Friday that a ban on lasers or other regulations might be needed if a public education campaign is not effective.
“We don’t want to see this develop where we’re investigating an accident,” said the administrator, Randy Babbitt.
Light from lasers radiates endlessly, and it diffuses with distance. A beam that is 1/25th of an inch wide at its origin can be 2 to 3 feet wide by the time it reaches an airliner approaching or departing an airport. Helicopters and general aviation airplanes fly slower and lower than airliners and are included in the tally of lasers pointed at aircraft.
New technology that makes powerful lasers more affordable is contributing to the rash of instances in the United States and other countries, experts say, the most recent being an event on a charter plane returning the Seahawks football team to Seattle on Monday.
Mr. Goldwasser said poor regulation contributed to the problem. The Food and Drug Administration regulates laser devices, but he said the agency was not effectively monitoring the products being sold to consumers through online laser stores.
“Any Tom, Dick and Harry can go to these Web sites and buy an illegal pointer,” Mr. Goldwasser said.
The F.D.A. did not respond to phone calls and e-mails Friday.
Mr. Goldwasser said one online retailer recently sent him a 100-milliwatt pointer, 20 times as powerful than what the law allows and without the required safety devices. Patrick Murphy, executive director of the international laser display association, said he had received a high-powered pointer from the same retailer.
“It would be nice if they didn’t sell this laser, but they feel competitively if they don’t sell it, someone else will,” Mr. Murphy said.
Laser pointers are supposed to bear labels advising users not to aim them at eyes or skin. They are limited to five milliwatts, which Mr. Goldwasser estimates as equal in its effect on the eye as several times the illumination of the noonday sun — painful, but not likely to be harmful in the long term.
On his Web site, LaserPointerSafety.com, Mr. Murphy collects information about the dozens of people around the world who have been charged with shining lasers at airplanes.
Mr. Murphy said several groups should be addressing the issue.
“If a plane were to go down, there would be an overreaction,” he said of any subsequent push to ban lasers. “There would be some justification to that, but the true answer is more complex. Everybody who touches this issue — manufacturers, regulators, pilots, airlines, laser enthusiasts — has a role to play.”
The sudden bright light in a darkened cockpit can cause temporary blindness or distract pilots during critical low-altitude flight.
“It’s a Pandora’s box, and we’ve been lucky that there haven’t been major incidents,” said Mr. Goldwasser, a retired professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania and now a consultant on lasers.
The F.A.A. said there were 2,836 instances of lasers aimed at airplanes in 2010, a ninefold increase over the past five years. Saying the agency could not sit around and wait for an airplane to crash, the F.A.A.’s administrator said Friday that a ban on lasers or other regulations might be needed if a public education campaign is not effective.
“We don’t want to see this develop where we’re investigating an accident,” said the administrator, Randy Babbitt.
Light from lasers radiates endlessly, and it diffuses with distance. A beam that is 1/25th of an inch wide at its origin can be 2 to 3 feet wide by the time it reaches an airliner approaching or departing an airport. Helicopters and general aviation airplanes fly slower and lower than airliners and are included in the tally of lasers pointed at aircraft.
New technology that makes powerful lasers more affordable is contributing to the rash of instances in the United States and other countries, experts say, the most recent being an event on a charter plane returning the Seahawks football team to Seattle on Monday.
Mr. Goldwasser said poor regulation contributed to the problem. The Food and Drug Administration regulates laser devices, but he said the agency was not effectively monitoring the products being sold to consumers through online laser stores.
“Any Tom, Dick and Harry can go to these Web sites and buy an illegal pointer,” Mr. Goldwasser said.
The F.D.A. did not respond to phone calls and e-mails Friday.
Mr. Goldwasser said one online retailer recently sent him a 100-milliwatt pointer, 20 times as powerful than what the law allows and without the required safety devices. Patrick Murphy, executive director of the international laser display association, said he had received a high-powered pointer from the same retailer.
“It would be nice if they didn’t sell this laser, but they feel competitively if they don’t sell it, someone else will,” Mr. Murphy said.
Laser pointers are supposed to bear labels advising users not to aim them at eyes or skin. They are limited to five milliwatts, which Mr. Goldwasser estimates as equal in its effect on the eye as several times the illumination of the noonday sun — painful, but not likely to be harmful in the long term.
On his Web site, LaserPointerSafety.com, Mr. Murphy collects information about the dozens of people around the world who have been charged with shining lasers at airplanes.
Mr. Murphy said several groups should be addressing the issue.
“If a plane were to go down, there would be an overreaction,” he said of any subsequent push to ban lasers. “There would be some justification to that, but the true answer is more complex. Everybody who touches this issue — manufacturers, regulators, pilots, airlines, laser enthusiasts — has a role to play.”
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