Man arrested after laser pointer aimed at Calgary police helicopter

While I don't condone his stupidity, I think this is a bit of an overreaction. "Blinded the crew" I call BS. These are highly localized energy with a very small diameter so unless you are perfectly looking down the beam to its' source, it won't 'blind' anyone. Throw in a moving heli and I say good luck even trying to keep the device aimed at any one spot on an aircraft.

Not saying it wasn't stupid thing to do, just saying I think this is pretty rediculous.

Wow. I wonder what happens when the are driving in the dark and someone with high beams on comes along? Car crash?


(I agree with you tho, uwish, it's not smart. But blinded? Meh, I call bs.)

question: who the f*** still owns a laser pointer!?

not true, they are working in the dark, a microsecond of exposure to the laser is enough to cause temporary (and possibly permanent partial) blindness. People don't understand just how dangerous these things are and how easily they can cause a helicopter or plane to crash.

People with cats.

People with cats.
Or people that have friends with ADHD.

yeah another over reaction by the cops, of course, on a side note if you wanna become a terrorist, just buy a laser pointer, no need for that silly jihad training school thingy anymore

A laser pointer with 50mw throughput can make an aircraft cockpit light up like a light bulb due to the laser light diffusing and speckling. And now there are lasers on the market that put out 1 watt of power - enough to start a fire at 100 meters. Don't tell me that can't hurt an eye at 1 or 2 km.

Oh, and anyone insisting that a mere laser pointer can't harm you should take a laser pointer, aim it into your eye, and see what happens. After all, if it's as harmless to the cops as you say it is, then it shouldn't harm you, right?

so to me seems like a design flaw in a chopper if a single laser can bring it down, and so starts the debate again lol. God forbid these pilots ever hit a sunrise or see a lighting storm while flying.

so to me seems like a design flaw in a chopper if a single laser can bring it down, and so starts the debate again lol. God forbid these pilots ever hit a sunrise or see a lighting storm while flying.

You make morons look like Rhodes scholars.

so to me seems like a design flaw in a chopper if a single laser can bring it down, and so starts the debate again lol. God forbid these pilots ever hit a sunrise or see a lighting storm while flying.

You make morons look like Rhodes scholars.

you make shit look like gold

Better to be ugly than brain dead.

As an aside, do you even know why they don't want lasers pointed at helicopters? I'll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with the helicopter.

You can now return to your usual cop-hating pablum.

Do the crime.........do the time. No one invented the charge for this, it was already there. You must have a weaker memory that I thought since we've been down this road before. Think it was the last time you crawled out from under your rock.

Great, another new thread for the cop-hating pukes to ruin. Yay?