helicopters ?

[lightenmyload.livejournal.com]

anyone have an idea why there have been helicopters circling overhead for the past hour ?  i'd guestimate they're (it's ?)  flying across the whole city, not just this neighborhood.

Comments

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Irrelevant. How is the pilot to know it's not a laser gunsight? That is in fact what he should assume, and he should act accordingly. As far as I'm concerned, it should be prosecuted just the same as if he had pointed a gun.

[ron_newman]

I thought the concern here was whether the laser pointer might blind the pilot (temporarily or otherwise). Are they strong enough to do that?

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Yep. Google "Green Laser" for more info. You can buy affordable handheld versions that'll burn holes paper or skin (eventually). Wicked Lasers has a military/police version that's designed to blind the target, and the retail is only $600... and that's not their most powerful or expensive model.

You don't want to distract pilots during landing, and the laser can either light up the cockpit or actually damage the retina of the pilot or co-pilot. That's setting aside the idea that you're using it to paint the target so that you can hit it with a laser guided missile.