Laser strikes against airplanes now an "epidemic," says FBI

**legomepanda** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 12:22pm

I work for a company that makes laser levels. Supposedly there's regulations in place but they seem really lax and not many people know about them, let alone what power is appropriate for the masses.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 12:32pm

Originally Posted by W. Rabbit

Can you imagine the damage someone could cause to a 747 or helicopter from the ground once these things get a little stronger?

I hear with a little know-how, you can mod lasers to have higher output at the expense of the laser's life.

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 12:49pm

Originally Posted by Permalost

I hear with a little know-how, you can mod lasers to have higher output at the expense of the laser's life.

Alfred Nobel knew what he was doing and constantly almost blew himself up.

His lesser known younger brother Emil actually succeeded in doing so.

**goodlun** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 2:46pm

Originally Posted by Permalost

I hear with a little know-how, you can mod lasers to have higher output at the expense of the laser's life.

I was actually just about to ask about this. I would think heat dissipation would be your biggest issue so if you can make a decent enough heat sink you can probably ramp it up quite a bit.

**Mr. Machette** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 3:36pm

Originally Posted by goodlun

I was actually just about to ask about this. I would think heat dissipation would be your biggest issue so if you can make a decent enough heat sink you can probably ramp it up quite a bit.

The materials start getting expensive and rare when you get into "hot enough to do real damage" teritory.

Synthetic gemstone lenses and such.

One major stumbling block is range. The peak power is dependent on focus. To close, and the light isn't concentrated enough to burn quickly. To far and you have the same problem.

Here's a crude ass diagram. (co-opted from something else entirely but the illustration can still be used) In our case, "object" would be the laser light source. The lens is the lens and "image location" is where the laser will deliver its maximum heat output. (Ignore the "eyes", those people are all blind now...) Building a laser that is powerfull enough to do damage even at sub-optimal range has been a major challenge which puts real destructive power beyond the budget and ability of most home hobbyists. (Even DARPA has had to spend decades working the bugs out.)

My armchair quarterback solution is to have two lasers on the device. One low power device that acts as rangefinder and another weaponized laser with two automatic lenses to adjust focal length. The range finder feeds information to a computer which controls the positioning of the automated lenses to focus your weapon against it's target.

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 5:30pm

I should fix my error above....meant to say 1,000 mW (ie 1 W) lasers, not 1 kW. Sorry...you can't buy 1kW lasers...yet.

real destructive power beyond the budget and ability of most home hobbyists

Haha glad you said "most".

Check out the range here withe the 1mW Spyder MkIII:

**Mr. Machette** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 6:01pm

Originally Posted by W. Rabbit

I should fix my error above....meant to say 1,000 mW (ie 1 W) lasers, not 1 kW. Sorry...you can't buy 1kW lasers...yet.

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Haha glad you said "most".

Check out the range here withe the 1mW Spyder MkIII:

I am impressed with how far consumer technology has come since I was a young boy and that balloon stunt was something you'd see in a university lab powered by a room full of equipment.

It's still just poping balloons though. You could etch with it to some degree. You could proabbaly cause a pretty nasty burn on someone if they were unable to move for some reason.

It still isn't as viable a balistic weapon as a gun or even a crossbow yet. But if things keep moving the way they are I'd be surprised if it took longer than 10-20 years for these things to become at least as lethal as handguns.

The day they are testing these things on http://www.theboxotruth.com/ against dry wall and pig carcasses I'll be sold.

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 9:50pm

Well I'm still thinking about aircraft....not so much a personal weapon although I'm sure it would come in handy in a dark alley...

The standard lasers can currently interfere with and possibly crash aircraft just by hitting the cockpit. I wonder what a Spyder would do to a cockpit.

What about sensors on the plane? The de-icing equipment on big jump jetliners requires the ability to properly detect the temperature on the chassis....what if that sensor (or another) gets a direct hit with a 1000mW laser and fails to de-ice....planes have crashed and people have died when those sensors have failed.

Scary stuff...

**goodlun** · Posted On: 10/26/2012 3:25am

Well I will get to play with laser here soon if I get this Control Engineer job that I have a 2nd interview coming up on.
Sheet metal Laser cutting equipment