FBI shines light on laser's use, dangers

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 4, 2005 | by BILL McKEOWN THE GAZETTE

Geeks, kids and copycats armed with a new type of laser pointer appear to be behind increasing reports of laser beams pointed at commercial aircraft, experts believe.

None of the 10 incidents reported in the past two weeks, including laser beams pointed at two planes landing Dec. 27 in Colorado Springs, posed a danger to the aircraft, FBI spokesman Bill Carter said Monday.

"All incidents to date have been more of a nuisance -- a prank or an accident," he said.

Special agent Monique Kelso said Monday that agents are still investigating the incidents in which a commercial and a cargo pilot heading into Colorado Springs Airport reported beams of light that appeared to be aimed into their cockpits.

A recent memo from Homeland Security officials warning that terrorists have explored using lasers to bring down aircraft has heightened media interest in -- and perhaps public fear of -- lasers. But such incidents are nothing new.

Since 1997, the Federal Aviation Administration has docu- mented more than 200 laser incidents involving aircraft in 16 states, according to an agency bulletin. And since the introduction of cheap, hand-held laser pointers in the mid-1990s, scores of incidents have been reported in the United States and United Kingdom in which police officers, firefighters, bus drivers, teachers and even soccer players have been "lasered."

Experts -- from the FBI to those in the laser industry -- believe the most recent incidents do not stem from illicit use of powerful military laser weapons or the less powerful lasers used by the entertainment industry, both of which require high power supplies and bulky cooling mediums.

Rather, they think the mischief is being caused by laser pointers that project a green beam of light that have recently been imported from China and Russia. They are increasingly available on the Internet.

The hand-held lasers, powered by batteries, project a green beam that can be 50 times brighter than the more common red-beam pointers and can travel 8,000 to 10,000 feet into the sky.

Although the federal Food and Drug Administration limits the power of laser pointers, there are several Web sites and electronic bulletin boards that explain how laser enthusiasts can easily double the power of the green lasers, which sell for as little as $50 and as much as $600. One company boasts it can increase the power of its green pointer so the beam of light can travel 25,000 feet into the sky.

Enthusiasts visiting one Web bulletin board said they use the laser pointers to identify stars, create simple holographs and even burn holes into plastic cups. One participant said he used his laser pointer to help his family spot a UFO.

Pilots in many of the recent incidents, including those in Colorado Springs, reported seeing thin green shafts of light, leading authorities to think a few laser enthusiasts are aiming their pointers at aircraft.

"Some of the hand-held lasers being sold over the Internet are frequency-doubled, and that's kind of scary," said Bill Ertle, president of Rockwell Laser Industries, an Ohiobased company that sells laserrelated products to industry and medical users.

Laser pointers shone directly into an eye at short distances can cause retinal damage if focused long enough. Experts say such damage is usually averted because of the natural human reaction to blink and look away.

Still, Ertle and other laser experts say even souped-up laser pointers put out power in the milliwatt range and don't pose much danger to flight crews because of the distances between ground and planes, and because of the difficulty of focusing a beam directly into the cockpit of a fast-moving plane.

"There's a big myth out there that lasers are powerful enough to do damage to pilots," said David Lytle, executive director of the International Laser Display Association, whose members put on large laser-light shows.

"Even the most powerful of our lasers, which are far, far more powerful than laser pointers, are not enough to do damage in flight because the distances are so great," he said. "We've done the math, and the FAA has done the math."

Lytle said that if green laser pointers are being directed at planes, pilots might see a "little twinkle of light" or a wash of green light over the cockpit. But he said the light would not be nearly as strong as a camera flashbulb.

Steve Luckey, a retired commercial pilot and chairman of the Airline Pilots Association's national security committee, said that may be true. But he said there is one puzzling and as yet unexplained case in which a Delta pilot on a landing approach to Salt Lake's airport in September 2004 suffered temporary retinal damage, apparently when a laser pierced his cockpit.

Luckey said he's not sure what to make about the recent increase in laser incidents reported by pilots.

He said it might be kids misusing laser pointers they got for Christmas, or copycats intent on replicating others' pranks. There might even be a few troublemakers who have bought far more powerful surplus lasers used in entertainment shows, he said.