
Proceedings Paper • Open Access
Hand held lasers, a hazard to aircraft: How do we address this?
Paper Abstract
The availability of hand held lasers, commonly termed “laser pointers” is easy and wide spread, through commercial
web sites and brick & mortar stores. The output of these hand held devices ranges from 1-5 milliWatts (mW) the legal
laser pointer output limit, to 5000mW (5Watts). This is thousand times the maximum limit for pointers. Sadly the
abuse of these devices is also wide spread. Over the last few years over 3000 aircraft are exposed to laser hits per year.
While these aircraft exposures are of no danger to the aircraft frame but they can cause pilot distractions with the
potential to cause a serve accident. The presentation will discuss the problem review visual effects, the regulatory
response and how educators need to be aware of the problem and can take steps to educate students in the hope of having
an effect.
Paper Details
Date Published: 8 October 2015
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9793, Education and Training in Optics and Photonics: ETOP 2015, 97931P (8 October 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2223126
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9793:
Education and Training in Optics and Photonics: ETOP 2015
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9793, Education and Training in Optics and Photonics: ETOP 2015, 97931P (8 October 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2223126
Show Author Affiliations
K. Barat, Laser Safety Solutions (United States)
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9793:
Education and Training in Optics and Photonics: ETOP 2015
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