Laser Pointed At Aircraft Thursday Night; Has The Burien Laser Pointer Returned?
Looks like Burien’s airplane laser-pointer might be back in town, with an incident reported Thursday night around 7:30pm north of Sea-Tac Airport.
According to authorities, a pilot with a Horizon Airlines flight making its final approach reported seeing a red laser pointed at the cockpit. Previous incidents have included green lasers, so perhaps the suspect has a new toy.
No one was hurt in the incident, and the airplane landed safely.
It’s a felony to point lasers at airplanes, and if you saw anything unusual in that area, or know anything about this incident, please contact Port of Seattle Police immediately at 206-433-5400.
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You actually need quite a powerful laser to blind a pilot. Typical laser pointers are 1 milliwatt, hardly enough to even be noticed at the ranges we’re talking about for incoming pilots ( about 1 mile distance to get at the right angle to enter the cockpit ).
On the other hand a 1 watt laser at 532 nm green would be more than enough to dazzle a pilot at that distance but much larger and less portable than a crappy little laser pointer that you can buy at WallMart. Never point a laser at anyone unless you’re a soldier and the enemy is in your cross hairs.