New Jersey man charged in alleged aircraft laser incident

[davidinalameda]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/04/laserbeam.aircraft.ap/index.html

A man who initially claimed his daughter aimed a laser at a helicopter was charged after he told federal agents that he pointed the light beam at two aircraft, authorities said Tuesday.

David Banach of Parsippany faces charges of interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on Tuesday afternoon.

The aircraft were targeted by the lasers near Teterboro Airport.

[Maat]

1. O.K.

Scratch that playing with lasers near an airport thing. It strikes me that I would not even be tempted to do something like this. Where was his brain? They are going to make an example out of him. They will probably plead it down to a misdemeanor, hopefully. I pray for no jail time for him. We don't even imprison the worst thugs in the country - I know - I was a social worker in Methamphetamineland for 7 years. Just hope this guy's family isn't wrecked.

[MissBrooks]

5. You pray for no jail time?

You think we should be nice to him?

What would you say if that plane crashed, killing all aboard and a bunch on the ground? Would you still think we should be lenient?

Not me! This is serious stuff.

What were his motives? That is important to know!

Either he is an idiot or he is a dangerous sociopath - or both.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. Get real. The chances of that crashing an airplane are

well, never mind.

[Almost_there]

36. What are the chances of crashing? Let's run a test...

How about this... you drive along on the freeway at the speed limit, on a straight stretch. Take a laser and shine it right into your eye and see how long it takes you to recover. Before you finish counting, try jamming your airbag bag into the steering wheel, and explain to your insurance company why you just wrapped your car around a tree.

When something blindingly bright shines into your eyes, what's your initial reaction? Reach for your eyes, right? So, let's say the plane is on final approach, about 5 miles out, pilot with his hands on the controls and he gets hit in the eye. His natural reaction is to grab for his eyes, possibly putting the plane, now traveling very slowly and with much less room for error into a roll, dive, pull up, stall, take your pick, and in 10 seconds you've got 15 dead people.

So, are the chances high? No, but, they certainly exist. To simply pooh pooh this occurance is absurd. Perhaps we should also remember the putz actually ratted out his OWN DAUGHTER! He shouldn't be sent to Marion for 15 to life, but, I think a few months in the clink might make this moron realize A) You never, ever, ever lie to the FBI, and B) Shining lasers are aircraft (or cars, or throwing frozen turkeys out moving car windows) is just not a good idea.

So, the "what are the chances" theory is like saying "what are the chances people will ever go to the moon" in the 1800s, or something like that. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't. Plus, anyone that actually blames their own daughter when she didn't even do it!!! Loser should be beaten with a rubber hose or wet noodle something. Bad father! Bad father! Go to your room!

~Almost

[Benhurst]

17. "Either he is an idiot or he is a dangerous sociopath- or both."

Hey, he sounds like the kind of person the Bush Crime Family is looking for. Is that head of Das Fatherland Security position still open?

[Occulus]

20. Okay, fair enough. But would there be a problem

if you were playing with your cat using a laser pointer, and the beam happened to go out the window accidentally?

We need to find a way to protect the pilots, rather than simply ban the behavior. Why? Accidents will still happen.

Not that I'm defending this guy- looks like he tried to pass it off on his kid. Somehow, that strikes me as even worse....

[MissBrooks]

22. This is silly -

there is a BIG difference between playing with your cat with a laser pointer and sitting around an airport intentionally shining a LASER into the cockpit.

I'm not saying ban the "playing with your cat" activities. I'm saying if people use LASERS to inflict harm - they should be held accountable.

From a friend of mine who works with LASERs everyday....

LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission Radiation) light is nothing to be played with. The light is monochromatic, coherent and in phase.

The real danger in eye exposure is permanent eye damage. Laser beam light is very dangerous to the eye even at very low output power because the eye itself will focus the light energy into a very small spot so there is high energy per given area.

A laser capable of reaching several thousand feet is powerful enough to do eye damage.

[karlrschneider]

24. If I may be polite, bullshit. I'm a commercial pilot, an engineer and

have a collection of lasers. If someone "shines" a laser into your eyes, your instantaneous reaction is to look away. The chance of retinal damage from a second of focus is nil. This whole farrago of "news" is just more fearmongering and doesn't amount to a damn thing.

[arwalden]

25. Clearly, We're Not Talking About Goldfinger's "Laser" Are We?

[AliciaKeyedUp]

38. Yeah, look away

Just as you are landing a plane. I hope anyone guilty of this enjoys the prison system until they are old and gray.

[UdoKier]

2. What an idiot. But there is a silver lining.

Perhaps in the future, these things could be used by the resistance against the Black Helicopters...

[tanyev]

3. He initially blamed his daughter?

A sniveling coward on top of whatever other problems he has.

[MissBrooks]

4. What an idiot!

Why would he do such a thing?

[Enraged_Ape]

7. Maybe he wanted to see what would happen...

if he shined a laser on airplanes. Guess he found out!

What an unmitigated moron. It always surprises me the heights of creativity that people will reach in order to be as stupid as possible.

[KareBear]

6. Cmon now...

When I got my first laser pointer I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. We used to shoot it out of the window of the college dorms and make people think they were bing sniper scoped. You hit a license plate or traffic sign with it and it would light up like a road flare due to reflectivity.

My point is that this guy could have been playing around NEVER thinking that he was going to cause problems with the planes themselves. Most people just don't understand the properties of lasers.

Heck where I grew up people would shoot their 22 rifles at planes for kicks. Yes that was way wrong, and yes I grew up in backwoods nowhere, but they weren't really trying to bring down the planes.

They should treat this like an educational thing for the public. Not as some insane criminal mastermind.

"Don't shoot guns off in the air at New Years, the bullets do come down" and "Don't shoot lasers at planes, they can actually see them". We need one of those "And now you KNOW!" moments with a celebrity on network tv now lol.

[Ian David]

8. At least he didn't tell the FAA he needed to track a plane....

full of Democrats for "homeland security."

[HuffleClaw]

9. its a conspiiiiiiracy !!!!!

geeze. just kidding. i rather suspect this poor guy was charged more for his 'attitude' than anything else. wanna bet he didn't genuflect to dear leader? and about his kid? she probably DID use the pointer too. what kid is going to stand there watching daddy play with a kewl toy and NOT want a turn?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. I wanna see his laser. I really want to know how he held it still

long enough for it to even be noticed.

[daleo]

12. Some facts from the legal document

It seems as if the plane wasn't very high (3000 feet), was going fairly slow (250 knots) and was illuminated in the side window 3 times. They don't say how long these intervals lasted (I suspect not long). The plane was passing a residential area near a strip mall when this occurred. The man in question had a laser, but they don't specify the make, power, etc.

I don't know if these details are typical of the other cases reported.

[demokatgurrl]

13. I suspect a very low powered laser-

people just can't buy lasers powerful enough to travel very far and still maintain their intensity- that's why I was baffled by this whole story from the beginning. Now that I know the plane was not very high up it makes a bit of sense.

As for jail time- well I guess I agree with the person who pointed out that some serious offendors don't get jail time but I do think it depends on motive and whatever else is found out about this guy. At the very least, he should get probation and a very stiff fine.

[Blue Diadem]

14. Something I heard yesterday

on cable news was about the availability and a website(which I can't remember) that sells high power small lasers. They can be handheld, but also can be clipped to telescopes. They also have quite a long distance..more than I ever expected from something so easy to obtain.

[NMDemDist2]

23. hubby belongs to an astronomy forum and they use lasers for star

viewing all the time.

they have a long discussion on using lasers on their telescopes

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13026

[NYC Liberal]

15. Hmmmm....

"Federal law enforcement officials have said there is no evidence of any terrorist plot in the current incidents."

Why do I suspect they would be saying otherwise if the man was Muslim?

[AmerDem]

16. but in the mean time

Clinton Curtis's charges filed with them years ago on Feeney for creating software to steal a presidential election lay in a file draw with no chance of investigation.

Sure, go after an average shmoe that probably had a couple beers in him and was clowning around. Then send him up river for 5 years. I hate our whole way of life anymore!

[booksenkatz]

18. If it's anything like what they did to Martha Stewart...

it's the lying to the Feds that will kick his ass in the end.

[wryter2000]

19. Banach?

What kind of Muslim name is Banach? </sarcasm>

[d_b]

21. The 'laser' brought down a plane?

Hmm.

[genieroze]

26. I can hardly wait for Patriot Act 2. Sheesh.

I seen a pic of this thing it was about the size of a large magic marker pen, one of the fat ones. I know they have laws against those small pen ones because people mistake them for gun targeting devices. Lesson for the kiddies, don't use these outside unless it's required for your job and don't point these things upward.

[NYC]

27. Is there actually a law against pointing a laser at something?

I have no idea.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NYC]

29. How do you know he wanted to burn the retinas out of the pilot's eyes?

?

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NYC]

31. Is that the sole use and purpose of a green laser?

?

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[magellan]

34. Bush*t

Call me silly, but if terrorists want to bring down a plane there are far more certain and easier ways of doing it than with a laser. We've ALL seen the reports of what gets past baggage screeners (and is subsequently LOST).

What should worry us is that, as I heard it, this fool was arrested under the PATRIOT ACT for a suspected act of terrorism, instead of for reckless endangerment or whatever. I'm no lawyer, but this sounds like the beginning of the slippery slope, whereby people will eventually be arrested for doing ANYTHING that could be interpreted as potential terrorism. What's next? Civil disobedience? Dissent?

[lazarus]

35. Oh, and about a million other uses

For instance, the listed use he bought the laser for, fibre optic testing.

It's not that powerful, either. No way it could burn out someone's eyes.

[imenja]

33. kick

[Almost_there]

37. About this guy's "Laser"...

I hope that the FBI is investigating where this felon got his "Laser" from, and if they might just have stumbled onto a plan to use his "laser" to punch a hole in something we call the "ozone layer", causing a global temperature change unless someone pays him... a hefty sum of money?

Maybe it was the plane that saved us all from his crazy idea!

[BiggJawn]

39. "interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle"???

Is that really a crime that's on the books?

Seems to me one could be liable to arrest on such a charge for failure to dip your headlights for an oncoming bus...