FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - FBI Probes Laser Beam Directed at Cockpit at 8500'

Dec 29, 2004, 5:56 pm

#3

Fredd

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Quote:

Originally Posted by studentff

Apparently several incidents:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/29/laser.plane/index.html

Not a very reliable way to attack aircraft but maybe a way to agitate a few easily-scared sheeple with media hype.

There have been other recent alleged incidents. In one of the Tom Clancy novels (Debt of Honor?) Mr. Clark uses some kind of laser to blind a pilot and cause a plane to crash as it was landing. Was that the novel in which a pilot also deliberately crashed a plane into the Capitol Building?

If it happened at 8500 feet I presume it's a little more than a kid with a laser pointer, but I hope you're right that it would be an ineffective way to attack aircraft.

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