Friday, December 10, 2004
Yahoo! News - Government Says Terrorists May Use Lasers
WASHINGTON - Terrorists may seek to down aircraft by shining powerful lasers into cockpits to blind pilots during landing approaches, federal officials are warning in a bulletin distributed nationwide.
The memo sent by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department says there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons, though there is no specific intelligence indicating al-Qaida or other groups might use lasers in the United States.
"In certain circumstances, if laser weapons adversely affect the eyesight of both pilot and co-pilot during a non-instrument approach, there is a risk of airliner crash," the agencies said.
Steve Luckey, a retired airline pilot who is chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association (news - web sites)'s national security committee, said pilots are concerned about a recent increase in laser incidents, but do not know what to make of them. He said he has learned of two or three cases in the past 90 days.
"The most recent incidents appear to be aimed at pilots in the vicinity of airports," Luckey said. "A few seem to be intentional, and we're wondering why and what's going on."
Huh? How in the hell could you even aim at and expect to hit a pilot and a co-pilot on a moving plane, unless you had two lasers and guided tracking? Bizarre.