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Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Laser Beams

This is disturbing.

CLEVELAND - Authorities are investigating a mysterious laser beam that was directed into the cockpit of a commercial jet traveling at more than 8,500 feet.

The beam appeared Monday when the plane was about 15 miles from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the FBI said.

"It was in there for several seconds like (the plane) was being tracked," FBI agent Robert Hawk said.

The pilot was able to land the plane, and air traffic controllers used radar to determine the laser came from a residential area in suburban Warrensville Heights.

Hawk said the laser had to have been fairly sophisticated to track a plane traveling at that altitude. Authorities had no other leads.


Michelle Malkin points out that this isn't the first instance of commercial jet being "shot at" with a laser beam. She also notes that the FBI has issued a terror warning concerning just just sort of thing.

It seems to me that several years ago I read a Tom Clancy novel which contained a sequence where two of the characters brought down a jet by blinding the pilots with an intense beam of light. I don't remember which book though.

Anyone else remember?

Comments

Avatar for Mark J

Debt of Honor.

But I cheated, and Googled it.  Only Clancy I’ve read is Rainbow Six.

Mark J on December 29, 2004 at 09:13 pm
Rob
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Yup, that’s it…

Actualy, Debt of Honor has the same characters in it as the Rainbow Six novels.

Anyway, I love Tom Clancy.  Even his older books are grate.  The only ones I don’t like are his Netforce series.


The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

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Rob on December 30, 2004 at 04:13 am
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BTW… How’d you guys get “avatars in your posts?

Tetzman on December 30, 2004 at 06:12 am
Rob
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If you click on our Avatars it will take you to the Gravatar website (http://gravatar.com).  There you can upload an avatar which will be associated with the email address you use when you post comments.  Then any site (including mine) that has Gravatar enabled will recognize your email address when you post a comment and put up your Gravatar with it.

Its a cool service.


The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

robport.gif border=0

Rob on December 30, 2004 at 06:12 am
Avatar for Tetzman

We had something similar happen here in Colorado Springs. No word on if they could track down te source of the laser though… They did close the airport for a portion of the day when this happened…

Tetzman on December 30, 2004 at 06:12 am
Avatar for Tetzman

Coool! Thanks for the info....

Tetzman on December 30, 2004 at 07:13 am
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