rd757
Well-Known Member
Went on a night XC with a student this evening up to KHTL (Houghton Lake, MI) and got hit by one of those ridiculous green lasers climbing through 3,500ft after departing, leaving us all (student, passenger in backseat and myself) with zero night vision for a very short period of time, luckily the student was on the side of the aircraft that wasn't hit directly and seemed to regain it quickly.
I was looking over at the left side of the panel showing the student something and saw a very bright flash, which got the attention of all three of us in the plane. Instantly, I had a feeling we were being targeted by an idiot with a laser because it was clear skies and unless we were going to imminently end up in a mid-air, it couldn't have been anything else that low. I looked over my shoulder (thinking back, that was probably the worst thing to do) and just in time to catch the beam being aimed at us again. It hit the underside of the wing and reflected into the front of the cabin. About that time the laser was pointed directly into the cabin and I directed the student to bank away immediately trying to expose the underside of the aircraft so we were protected. Unfortunately it hit something on the panel and reflected and caught me directly, ouch.
I called up Minnie Center and they took a pretty detailed report over the radio, asking lots of question, how many houses down the road it was from anything I could make out as a landmark, GPS coordinates of the incident and then relayed the information to the local police. That guy is lucky we weren't based at HTL and were headed home anyway.
I was looking over at the left side of the panel showing the student something and saw a very bright flash, which got the attention of all three of us in the plane. Instantly, I had a feeling we were being targeted by an idiot with a laser because it was clear skies and unless we were going to imminently end up in a mid-air, it couldn't have been anything else that low. I looked over my shoulder (thinking back, that was probably the worst thing to do) and just in time to catch the beam being aimed at us again. It hit the underside of the wing and reflected into the front of the cabin. About that time the laser was pointed directly into the cabin and I directed the student to bank away immediately trying to expose the underside of the aircraft so we were protected. Unfortunately it hit something on the panel and reflected and caught me directly, ouch.
I called up Minnie Center and they took a pretty detailed report over the radio, asking lots of question, how many houses down the road it was from anything I could make out as a landmark, GPS coordinates of the incident and then relayed the information to the local police. That guy is lucky we weren't based at HTL and were headed home anyway.