[nobody314]

You don't need scientific facts anymore - just a lawyer

"FAA released what it called a legal interpretation, which finds that directing a laser beam into an aircraft cockpit could interfere with a flight crew performing its duties while operating an aircraft"

If only they would release a legal interpretation that aircraft can fly without engines we would save a fortune in fuel, reduce noise and GHG emmisions.

[carbocation]

Sigh. You know, there are some topics on which I might agree with your jaded view. But a topic like this? Where there is real risk of harm? And where the FAA is trying to figure out which laws they might use to protect people from such harm? I think your sarcasm is misplaced in this instance.

[cube13]

This is also after a 4 year study, which is on the FAA page(http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/safety/report/laserinfo/).

[nobody314]

The study found that shining eye-safe levels of laser light into the eyes of pilots in a simulator affected their performance - it didn't show that it's possible to shine a mW laser pointer from the ground up into the cockpit of an aircraft and keep lock on a pilots eye for long enough to have any effect.

If it did then somebody is wasting an awful lot of money on air superiority fighters when the country could be defended by a grid of laser pointers from Staples.

[cube13]

Read the other posts in the thread. artmageddon's in particular. For an aircraft on landing approach, it's low enough that even a small fraction of a second's exposure can cause flash blindness.

[nobody314]

The same FAA that forces you to put liquid in your checked baggage unless you label it saline - yet insists that you only put Li-Ion batteries with the energy capacity of a grenade in the cabin.

That has for years resisted smoke hoods being required while deciding that aircraft that only fly upto 300mi offshore aren't really over water and don't need life rafts.

That increases spending on staff moral while cutting local ATC and is so far behind in it's plans for radar at small airports that it's not funny.

[barrkel]

You're confusing the TSA and the FAA.

[nobody314]

The FAA is in charge of what goes on the plane FAA Office of Security & Hazardous Materials Safety http://ash.faa.gov

You have to love calling the office of Hazardous Materials Safety "ASH" !

[barrkel]

That's things like flammables, combustibles, weapons and more insidiously dangerous things like mercury (eats away at aluminium, which is common in airplane bodywork).