Teen Sentenced to Prison For Lasering a Helicopter

[stige]

[citation][nom]w464waw[/nom]There are people actually defending that a 19 yr old boy should spend more than a year in prison for pointing a laser in a 700ft range....the area of the heli at that distance its smaller than the precision of the human eye-hand( i did made the math), the fact that the he pointed in to pilots head its completely random.And the laser dind´t bring any kind of consequence.If he was being judged by anything other than being stupid he would being charged as Attemped murder or if something had acttually happened, murder without intention. But he is being charged by a fellony !People defending prision must be on crack. I would like to see how they would react if they get 15 mo by playing with a ball and hiting one car at the street creating an accident. You people are crazy, im glad you are not me neighbors, and that my country´s system is not THAT messed up.[/citation]

since you're so cool with this and think the punishment is unjust how about i suspend you in a machine about 1000 ft off the ground and point a potentially blinding light in your eyes while the only way for you to land safely is with your eyesight.

kthxbai.

 

[Guest]

Though I disagree with the 15 months. I do want people to be aware of the fact. I highly doubt they're going to send him to a maximum security prison where rapist and murders go. He'll probably go to a minnimum security prison. He will have tv, internet, and most likely be with people who have done simple but serious crimes like theft.

 

[jr_captain]

Sorry for all of those that think it's overkill, but as a pilot this is a serious offense and problem. There have been pilots that have had serious problems from being hit with lasers on final approach to an airport. Not only can it cause a plane to crash, because the pilots are blinded for up to several minutes; but it can ruin a pilots career by blinding him. For those that think that 15 months in prison is to much of a sentence, what if the chopper crashed and killed the 2-4 people on board and another dozen on the ground. Would you be asking for them to through him under the jail.

This is a federal crime and people need to understand that this can cause a major accident.

 

[tayb]

Pretty hefty penalty. I wonder if the guy had a previous record. No one was injured. A slap on the wrist fine and a couple hundred hours of community service would have been fine... I think they went waaaay overboard here. Then again, I don't know all the details...

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

This wasn't a normal laser pointer, it was a green laser pointer - the type that can light matches etc and can cause permanent blindness in no time at all.

These lasers should not be used with cats either, that would be horrible. Low power red laser pointers only for cats!

 

[albion000]

f-14 and others are a little slow because they don't even bother to read the freakin' article:

"Nathan Ramon Wells, 19, aimed the laser at the aircraft while it was assisting Cathedral City police investigating a residential burglary in June 2009. ... According to the U.S. attorney’s office, the California Highway Patrol pilot was flying at 700 feet when the helicopter’s cockpit was suddenly illuminated with a bright green light, causing both CHP officers aboard to look away and change course."

So yes, it was flying low. No, it was not a tiny target. And no, it didn't have to hit them directly to create a problem--plexiglas creates some very interesting diffraction patterns that can themselves be dangerously affective upon the retina. They also call it a "laser device" which suggests it is not the laser pointer on the back of a pen. Are you all really so obtuse that you don't know how easily available even 1w lasers are? You can get over ten *miles* of range from 532nm green lasers and still have 25% applied power, and at 200m it takes less than a quarter of a second to create permanent eye damage, particularly at night.

People who shine vehicle operators with lasers aren't deserving of supermax treatment (and this guy won't get it, he'll get minimum security if that) but having been hit after a movie by a goddamn kid and having a burn spot on my retina for weeks this IS a form of assault and it needs to be treated that way.

 

[albion000]

(Also: Spanky Deluxe beat me to the green laser point. See http/www.wickedlasers.com . That he was interfering with the police certainly didn't help matters; it is never, ever, ever a good idea to screw around with the cops.)

 

[morerice]

what i want to know is if there was a trial by a jury of his peers, because I just can't imagine what must be going through their heads to put a young man in jail for something like this. Seriously, corporate criminals get away with ruining thousands of people's lives yet a prank such as this, though dangerous, cause the court to sentence the man to 15 months in a federal prison. Carly Fiorina screwed up HP while she was CEO, caused tens of thousands of Americans to lose their job, and then gets a twenty million dollar severance package for all the damage she caused. Now she is running for Congress. Really?

 

[55Range]

Seriously 15 months for pointing a laser, simple gadget, he should be punished but 15 months prison thats really harsh.
Ban the laser simply !

 

[Guest]

Wow! so many clueless comments about this incident and how green lasers work.

The green lasers are working at a different wave length than the red lasers.

The green lasers has a range of about 2 kilometers up to 25 kilometers(5mW -> 700mW), yes thats right 25 kilometers.

Aiming with a green laser is very easy as you can see the beam all the way to target, the red lasers only shows the 'red dot' so it's harder to aim(you will have to see the 'red dot' to aim), and you don't get the same reach as with a green laser, the damn green laser is like infinite light sword piercing throught the sky, point that 'green rod' into the sky and adjust as needed and you will easily hit a flying object, and all it will take is a brief second for that laser to blind a person, temporarily or permanently.

15months in jail is harsh, had something happened it might be another thing, a hefty fine would have sufficed.

 

[Guest]

Some facts. It was a police helicopter which was investigating a burglary. The defendant shined the laser at the pilot while the police helicopter was lower to the ground. I think that some of the posters are not grasping that it was quite intentional, not an accident.

It was pretty dangerous

 

[jj463rd]

[citation][nom]greenlas[/nom]Wow! so many clueless comments about this incident and how green lasers work.The green lasers are working at a different wave length than the red lasers.The green lasers has a range of about 2 kilometers up to 25 kilometers(5mW -> 700mW), yes thats right 25 kilometers.Aiming with a green laser is very easy as you can see the beam all the way to target, the red lasers only shows the 'red dot' so it's harder to aim(you will have to see the 'red dot' to aim), and you don't get the same reach as with a green laser, the damn green laser is like infinite light sword piercing throught the sky, point that 'green rod' into the sky and adjust as needed and you will easily hit a flying object, and all it will take is a brief second for that laser to blind a person, temporarily or permanently.15months in jail is harsh, had something happened it might be another thing, a hefty fine would have sufficed.[/citation]
It's not ideal to be able to see the beam from the target since the target will be able to easily see the point of origin with their FLIR on these helicopters (if one is dazzling with a Laser).These particular targets are very risky especially with their sophisticated equipment on board.Basically If you can see them they can see you.What was the 500 year old invention that enabled one to see objects from far away that couldn't be seen before with the naked eye well it's the telescope.The FLIR's themselves have infra red telescopic optics too.Ideally the photon density from a Laser should be low enough that the point of origin should not be able to be ascertained quickly (playing the devil's advocate here).Lower the photon density by using a collimator (telescope).One can also bounce the beam off a mirror to a target from a distance if the mirror has high enough reflectivity (specialized Laser reflector) and is used on a remote servo motor mount.
One should sight on the target using a reticule (telescope) before firing and ideally the dazzling should be from that of a pulsed Laser (with under 1/2000th of a second pulses or shorter) rather than continuous or semi-continuous wave unless it is momentarily fired in a very very short time duration.Even so detection of the point of origin is possible (unlikely initially but after investigation) unless the Laser dazzler sniper moves to avoid detection or if the discharged flash on the target hasn't been in the FLIR's view.A tactic to use is to target objects from extreme distances (dozens of miles away) on very low horizon targets.Again I am just playing the devil's advocate here so don't ever ever do what I say in this post.

The human eye's sensitivity is especially vulnerable at the 500 to 540 nm wavelength at night.
During daylight hours the eye's sensitivity is shifted more towards the 570 to 590 nm wavelength.