All over the world, authorities are fighting hooligans who shine lasers into the cockpit of an airplane. We are checking whether this can blind the pilot.

Until 2004, 400 attempts to blind pilots with laser devices of various powers were registered in the United States. In 2016 alone FAA recorded a record 7,398 such cases. The growth is primarily due to the emergence of affordable laser pointers and their widespread distribution among the world's population.

There are reports in the press that blinded pilots temporarily lost their vision, and some of them even ended up in the hospital with retinal injuries. According to the representative of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Vladimir Isaev, “this is scary because when blinded, a person loses his spatial position within a few seconds... This affects flight safety.” However, in 2015 the British press reportedthat a British Airways pilot ended up in hospital with retinal damage after one of the “laser attacks”.

Actually apply ^{organs of vision} Real damage to a person by non-military lasers from a distance of more than 100 m is impossible. In this case, the target should be static, and not moving, like a flying plane. This is evidenced by the results of the study, published in 2015 in the respected British Journal of Ophthalmology. The same thing was shown carried out experiments in different countries - e.g. organized Russian magazine “Popular Mechanics” in 2017.

Of approximately 80,000 recorded To date, in different countries, not a single “laser attack” has resulted in a plane crash or irreversible damage to the eyes of pilots or aircraft passengers. The only story described above involving retinal damage in an English pilot that made it to the press is causing serious concern among specialists. doubts, since the fact was not properly recorded and confirmed. They do not believe that the doctors at the Sheffield hospital where the victim was allegedly admitted would have missed the opportunity to make a scientific publication about the first event of this kind in the history of medicine.

However, aviation safety experts still insist that the laser beam should not be directed towards the aircraft, even as a joke. They are sure that danger exists. Indeed, many pilots who were subjected to such attacks (in UK there are almost 50%), they say that the beam, hitting the glass of the cabin, is refracted and glares. This can cause fear in pilots, loss of concentration, and even temporary blindness, which can last several seconds. At critical moments of the flight, that is, during takeoff and landing, this can end tragically.

According to a less radical point of view, “in theory, a laser pointer can “shoot down” a plane, but only in combination with other factors (an emergency on board or bad weather conditions).”

Since there is not a single reasonable reason to shine laser pointers at airplanes, and there is a danger, albeit hypothetical, of such behavior for people’s lives, the legislation of different countries punishes it quite severely. In Russia, since 2017, for such actions you can pay a fine of 150,000 to 300,000 rubles or go to prison for two years. In the USA, everything is much stricter: the fine there can reach up to $250,000, and prison sentences for especially persistent and persistent violators can be up to 20 years.

Not to mention that, for example, in Australia and the UK sales of laser pointers are more powerful than 1 mW prohibited. In the US, the threshold power for legal devices sold without special licenses is slightly higher—5 mW. Here you can buy a 300 mW laser, not very cheaply, but freely. Popular Mechanics experimented with exactly this. But even this one turned out to be not dangerous for the pilots’ eyes.