Australia: Lasers face import ban after attack on planes

[zong]

Guys, while our green laser is fun, we don't want this happening in Singapore.. take care while using the green lasers.

================================================

THE importation of laser pointers is likely to be outlawed after six flights into Sydney were thrown into chaos.

The federal Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, said the powerful beams should be treated as a serious weapon.

Mr Debus said yesterday the co-ordinated attack using four green lasers on Friday - which forced air-traffic controllers to change the flight paths of the six aircraft - was very serious. Penalties for offenders would be increased.

"The use of these laser pointers against aeroplanes is unbelievably stupid and cannot be tolerated," Mr Debus said.

"It's obvious that we cannot tolerate this sort of use of these devices when they obviously bring so much potential danger to the lives of aircraft passengers."

Mr Debus said lasers should be treated as weapons and dealt with by the law in the same way as other dangerous weapons.

"I cannot say what the motivation of this extraordinarily irresponsible behaviour has been - there are a range of possibilities from vandalism and stupidity through to outright criminality.

"There is every reason to treat these devices as if they are firearms and respond with that kind of severity."

The NSW Police Minister, David Campbell, said yesterday that he was also considering a ban on the laser pointers.

"There are some penalties that police can impose now, but we're looking to make these items a prohibited weapon in certain circumstances, which would lead to substantial fines and possible jail terms," he said.

Authorities said the attack, which lasted for 15 minutes, appeared to have originated in the Bexley area.

The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said the State Government had dragged its feet on banning lasers. "These lasers have been outlawed in Victoria since 1998 [and] Western Australian legislation is effective next month to do the same," he said.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said a ban would bring NSW into line with other states. A CASA spokesman, Peter Gibson, said such attacks were increasing, with five to six reported each week.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/las ... 09183.html

[Airconvent]

Its sad people are so irresponsible..
Mnay lives are at stake on the aircraft and on the ground but they do not care. In anycase, Australia is such a big country I think banning it would have been ineffective.

[superiorstream]

Hi,The concerned
The report is too sweeping with no mention as to the power of the laser involved and how the attack was carried out.You know laser in the(around) 5 watt range can create holes in metal and cause glass of low quality to crack and if one shine a laser at a aircraft the pilot may panic thinking of such high power laser attack---but low power laser are harmless unless directed at ones eye(can cause slow blindness) or cause malfunction in some optical guiding systems.Putting them inline with weapon(eg guns,bullets) means death sentences like country in Singapore.How about sentencing people(or a tourist on transit) to death for possessing a microwatt laser!

[orly_andico]

I believe there was an instance in the US where a 5-milliwatt laser (very similar to the Howie Glatter etc) temporarily blinded a helicopter pilot when it was shone into the cockpit.

So I expect the laser pointers used for presentations aren't powerful enough... but the green astro pointers are.

[zong]

Wow, I didn't expect an old post to be dug up!

Yes, in the pilot cockpits, it is usually dark so that their eyes are adjusted to what is out there. A green laser accidentally shone onto the cabin would temporarily kill their night vision even if not shone into their eyes. Same reason why we sometimes don't like (the more powerful) green lasers in very dark ob sites. I've seen a bright one in action in a dark place and it was blinding!

[superiorstream]

Hi,
Actually naive to 'ban' laser.Do you know your CD rom ,disc player,bar code reader, all use laser and its easy to extract these laser(some not in the visible range) and resemble them for various other uses.NTUC bar code reader also use red laser.Laser light shine with a shinning appearences.You can even rearrange it in the format of a beam expander(reversed) to reinforce their power.Its a matter of education to gear their use for the benefit of humankind.