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The issue of laser attacks was a hot topic at the Airborne Law Enforcement Association’s annual convention, held last week in Reno, Nev. The growing frequency of the strikes, which, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data, have increased nine-fold since 2005, means that it is becoming increasingly rare for an aviation unit to remain unaffected by the hazard.
“It’s basically become an epidemic,” ALEA executive director Steve Ingley told Canadian Skies. “The ALEA over the past year has been looking at different ways that we can try to address this problem, because it’s happening to our members all over the place. And, for some of them, it’s happening over and over again. It’s not just one hit. It’s several hits.”
Deputy Bryan Smith, the ALEA’s safety program manager and chief pilot of Lee County Sheriff’s Aviation Division in Florida, said law enforcement aircraft were particularly vulnerable to being hit due to the low height they fly and how well lit they are. A laser strike on his aircraft hit his tactical flight officer in the eye. “He told me the next day that it felt like somebody had punched him in the side of his head,” Smith told Canadian Skies. For a pilot, he said a laser strike can be very disorienting. “The first urge is to look and see what it was. It’s shining all around you, but you’re in a cockpit trying to fly a helicopter.”
And the problems for an aircrew hit by a laser don’t end there. “If I have an incident and I get hurt in an aircraft – even if I were to get shot – my supervisor knows how to respond to that,” said Smith. “He knows what kind of medical attention I’m going to need, the paperwork to fill out and what kind of doctor I need to see. When I landed and told the control supervisor in the middle of the night that my guy just got lasered in the eye…it’s a completely foreign concept. He had no idea how to respond to that.”
In an effort to help prepare its members for such a scenario, the ALEA has signed a new agreement with Night Flight Concepts that will see a laser defence training course provided at a reduced cost of $95 per licence, per person. Developed by Night Flight Concepts in partnership with Dr. Dudley Crosson, an aviation physiologist and educator, the course provides students with key information about what to expect and how to react if their aircraft is hit by a laser.
Adam Aldous, president and CEO of Night Flight Concepts, said the need for some sort of laser protection became apparent early last year. “We started hearing about what was going on out there from all first response agencies and airliners in terms of an increase in laser strikes,” he said. “So we developed laser armor, defence training and core products to address that threat.”
The self-paced training course takes about one hour and is completed online. Smith said it provides crucial information to aircrew about how to respond to a laser attack. “If you don’t have the training, not only do you not know how to properly respond, but when you get on the ground, nobody knows…Do I need to see a doctor? What should the doctor be looking for? Do I need a follow-up? Is it ok for me to be flying the rest of the night? These are important questions.”
Another facet of laser protection now available is glasses that block certain laser wavelengths. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) recently took delivery of Night Flight Concepts’ Laser Armor Aviator Glasses – and were hit by a laser strike on their second day with them. Constable Curtis Brassington, a tactical flight officer with the RCMP, said they typically get hit by lasers two or three times a month over Vancouver, B.C.
“The glasses had been brought in and we wanted to know if we had to wear them all the time or if we could slip them on under our helmets…so we tried both,” he told Canadian Skies. At around midnight on his second flight with them, he removed the glasses. Ten minutes later, a “little bright light” caught the corner of his eye. “The pilot still had his glasses on, which was interesting, because he couldn’t see the laser at all,” he said.
But the glasses aren’t without their drawbacks – Brassington reports “fatigue issues” where the arms of the glasses meet the side of the head, a decrease in visual acuity on takeoff and landing, and adapting to looking at a screen now tinted orange, “but you do get used to it – like with ski goggles.”
Unfortunately, wearing laser protection over their eyes is something that aircrew may have to become increasingly used to doing, especially with the growing power of the lasers that may be shined towards them. “Tomorrow is the scary part about injuries,” said Ingley. “It’s scary now, but it’s very rare we have permanent damage. The problem is, what about tomorrow? These things, just like everything else in technology, are increasing in power and strength all the time. Easy accessibility and low cost are making them available to a whole wide range of people. The more information and resources we can provide to our members, the better off they’re going to be in the long run.”
