Anybody been hit with a laser beam?

Mavmb

Mavmb

Well-Known Member
Two pilots from my company got hit with laser beams a few years ago. One was in Denver and the other was near Minneapolis. The laser beam blinded the pilots and the police couldn't find the culprits. I never thought about this being an issue before. Has anyone else ever been hit? It almost sounds like a SCI FI movie.
 
I've been lasered twice; my vision was dazzled in the moment, but have no noticeable long-term impact to my vision.

My brain, on the other hand....
 
I've been hit 3 times in PHX and it was a non-event. Is there a difference in how the laser affects you based on windscreen/aircraft type? All three were in a 402 and I kept thinking what is the big deal.
 
Got lazered, flew a search pattern over the house (in a 172) until about 30 cops arrived. We talked the police in via the tower and relayed no's then a yes as an officer moved from front yard to front yard shining his mag light up at us.
Fbi called me and got a statement from me and ensured i'd be willing to testify in court if needed. Not sure what the sentence was, but found out a few guys in their twenties got locked up. (Relieved they weren't minors!)
About a year later FBI offered a $10k reward leading to the arrest of offenders. I called about my money, the guy 'almost' laughed as he told me the reward wasn't available at that time.
Maybe they'll make an ABC after school special about it and I can play one of the cops...:(
 
No affect on our vision, really didn't light up the whole cockpit or blind us. They just kept doing it, even after we started circling the people on the back deck of the house doing it. Tower asked for help with the cops as they'd had repeated lasers coming from that area.
My student built some ISR electronics at his day job and was very excited about "getting in the fight"!
 
bucksmith said:
Got lazered, flew a search pattern over the house (in a 172) until about 30 cops arrived. We talked the police in via the tower and relayed no's then a yes as an officer moved from front yard to front yard shining his mag light up at us.
Fbi called me and got a statement from me and ensured i'd be willing to testify in court if needed. Not sure what the sentence was, but found out a few guys in their twenties got locked up. (Relieved they weren't minors!)
About a year later FBI offered a $10k reward leading to the arrest of offenders. I called about my money, the guy 'almost' laughed as he told me the reward wasn't available at that time.
Maybe they'll make an ABC after school special about it and I can play one of the cops...:(
Click to expand...

To the OP - yes, I have.

@bucksmith a friend and I did the same thing, we relayed the address that my friend got from google maps while I flew to local PD and circled. So at 2000 feet working a pattern over the house a helo comes in at 800 and does the same then lights the house up. We break away and get a call later from the LEO pilot and tell us it was a minor who did it. State didn't go after him, Feds didn't go after him, but it was the catalyst to new state legislation prohibiting the act of shining a laser at an aircraft (for brevity). I am still friends with the helo pilot to.
 
Yes, three times so far. Worst was at night, popping out of the bases at about 800 ft and immediately getting lit up. Fortunately I saw it sweeping toward me, and I had the presence of mind to look away. Still lit up everything bright enough to be disorienting.
 
Once, at night descending into Torreon, MX....they wouldn't stop. Captain Quick-Thinker momentarily turned us dark so they could no longer see us and we notified ATC. It was the only thing that worked. I don't recommend this entirely but hey, it worked til we were a few miles down the road.

Unfortunately, MX ATC told us that south of the border, law enforcement has bigger fish to fry and the same spot gets laser strike reports fairly frequently. So yeah, if you're coming into MMTC for the north, be advised.
 
Last figure I saw was an average of 4 reported incidents per day in the NAS. That was 2 years ago though.
 
I have a few times, once in San Diego, the rest were in the Middle East, no damage though, I think they were all pretty weak lasers. I would guess that it happens quite a bit.
 
3 times for me, but only once was a direct hit inside the flight deck and we both looked away in time.
 
Been hit once. The sun had just set and we were on short final. Two quick green flashes and I look down and there's a person standing in the middle of the street shining it. Luckily it didn't hit me directly. We were on short final so the captain and I could easily see what house. We landed called ATC who called the sheriff. They went to the neighborhood and hung out around the corner, and they see the green flash on some other houses and catch them. They told us it was a bunch of kids playing with it, parents got a stern taking to and that was it. This all happened within 30 minutes of us reporting it. Pretty impressive how quickly they caught them and stopped them before they hit more planes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bp
Once, while low and slow, during my time doing traffic watch. Was transitioning from the 101 Southbound to crossing the San Mateo Bridge after dark and I got lit up by a bright green laser. Let SFO Tower know, but couldn't give them a pin-point location, so I meandered on my merry way.

There was an initial flash blindness and the few additional seconds for it to register as to what the heck happened, but nothing too serious.
 
Twice, both times it broke a apart all over the cockpit and I thought, "Oh look, we're getting lasered. Why do people get so worked up about this?"

Even if we wanted to be super cool and pretend like it was a big deal, what are the Mexican Federales going to do?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top