LASER ZAPS PILOT’S EYE

“A pilot fly­ing a Delta Air Lines jet was injured by a laser that illu­mi­nated the cock­pit of the air­craft as it approached Salt Lake City International Airport last week,” accord­ing to the Washington Times.

The plane’s two pilots reported that the Boeing 737 had been five miles from the air­port when they saw a laser beam inside the cock­pit, said offi­cials famil­iar with gov­ern­ment reports of the Sept. 22 inci­dent. The flight, which orig­i­nated in Dallas, landed with­out fur­ther inci­dent at about 9:30 p.m. local time.
A short while later, how­ever, the first offi­cer felt a sting­ing sen­sa­tion in one eye. A doc­tor who exam­ined the pilot deter­mined that he had suf­fered a burned retina from expo­sure to a laser device, the offi­cials said. 

Earlier this year, an intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory was struck by a laser in the eye, caus­ing reti­nal dam­age. That inci­dent lead to a shut down of the lab, and the fir­ing of at least two employ­ees.

John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said com­mer­cial pilots have been exposed to laser illu­mi­na­tion. “The Air Line Pilots Association has received reports in the past of inci­dents where lasers pen­e­trated cock­pits and, in at least one case, caused injury,” Mr. Mazor said…
Military per­son­nel also have suf­fered eye dam­age from laser illu­mi­na­tion. In one case, Naval Lt. Cmdr. Jack Daly and Canadian heli­copter pilot Capt. Pat Barnes suf­fered eye injuries hours after an aer­ial sur­veil­lance mis­sion to pho­to­graph a Russian mer­chant ship that had been shad­ow­ing the ballistic-​​missile sub­ma­rine USS Ohio in Washington state’s Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The Navy recently turned down an appeal from the Defense Department inspec­tor gen­eral to award Cmdr. Daly a Purple Heart for the inci­dent. Cmdr. Daly, who retired from the ser­vice last year, con­tin­ues to suf­fer eye pain and dete­ri­o­rat­ing vision.  (via Drudge)

September 29th, 2004 | Lasers and Ray Guns | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.