It may sound like the stuff of urban legends , but it ’s true : The same laser Spanish pointer you ’ve used in business presentation or to entertain your qat for hours on end could actually take down a aeroplane . How can this be ?
According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation , the beam of light from a hand-held optical maser Spanish pointer direct at an aircraft from the reason can jaunt more than a mile [ source : FBI ] . Pilots who have experienced laser attack from the cockpit equate the experience to throw a photographic camera flash go off in a slant ignominious car at night [ source : FBI ] .
distinctive optical maser pointer like the kind used by amateur astronomers to point out constellations or by college professors during a public lecture have an output of around 5 milliwatt , which hardly sounds like enough power to bring down a plane . But unlike an incandescent bulb designed to crystallise a large space , the light from a optical maser arrow is digest into a narrow irradiation that spreads out very slowly .
The Federal Aviation Administration find that a stock 5 - milliwatt green laser cursor is able of stimulate retinal suntan at distances of up to 50 understructure ( 15 measure ) and flash cecity from nigh a quarter mile ( 350 meter ) away . At 2 mil ( 3 kilometers ) , a 5 - milliwatt laser pointer was able-bodied to step in with a airplane pilot ’s vision enough to cause an aborted landing place [ generator : Fienberg ] .
As of late 2013 , no plane accident has been attribute to a laser pointer , but the potential for harm is real notwithstanding [ root : The Economist ] . Because laser flash are most probable to occur during parody and down when an aircraft is close to the ground , even a minor beguilement can be a hazard . Pilots in several laser strike incidents have suffered irregular sightlessness , and , in a few extreme typesetter’s case , pilots have been hospitalized with retinal suntan [ sources : Cortez , Hartmann , Koerner ] .
In the United States , it is a felony to wittingly point the beam of a laser at an aircraft , and convicted offenders can gestate to welcome jail time . Since 2005 , the FBI has worked with the FAA to track laser strikes , offering reward of up to $ 10,000 for information leading to the collar of anyone who designedly shoot for a optical maser at an aircraft [ root : FBI ] .
