Laser warning system test planned over nation's capital
The AOPA staff, government officials, and the media will get a demonstration next week of a new laser system intended to warn pilots who stray too close to restricted airspace around Washington, D.C.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) developed the ground-based system, called the Visual Warning System (VWS), that sends out low-level beams of alternating red and green light to warn pilots that they are flying without permission in designated airspace. It's designed to alert pilots who violate the Washington Metropolitan Area Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and can't be reached by radio.

In conjunction with the FAA and Air Force, demonstration flights will be conducted using military aircraft. While the government claims the technology isn't harmful to the eye and isn't bright enough to distract pilots, members of Congress have raised concerns about the lack of testing on smaller unpressurized aircraft with thinner windscreens.

The VWS consists of seven turrets, each housing a red and a green laser, placed around the Capital region. The 1.5-watt lasers are diffused through lenses to produce wide, low-intensity beams covering an area roughly 100-feet in diameter 10 nautical miles from the turret. The lasers are visible at distances up to 10 nm during the day and 25 nm at night. Each turret is connected to a command center.

NORAD plans to have the system operational in 30 to 45 days.

April 8, 2005

Courtesy of AOPA website

Oh cool, yesterday, well, over the weekend, I flew near (not too near) a laser unit they have just set up in the UK, it fires lasers at the moon, to time how long it takes for the light to come back to calculate the distance etc.

It is a Danger Area and the altitude is unlimited, I said to the examiner: "...well, it would be unlimited if its going all the way to the Moon...! " - there`s a joke there somewhere.

I don`t know what the effect would be if one flew through it - enlightening perhaps.

Yeh, I passed.

im just wondering, but do you think that the government was behind the laser problem when it was being shone into the cockpits of commercial aircraft. they had to be high-powered lasers! what do you think?
C o R y

We will never know... But I suspect teenagers with high powered handheld lasers, playing pranks on runway approach ends to be more plausible.

Here is what the test looked like at night over the Washington ADIZ:
http://media.aopa.org/050414laser.asx

Its cool, it saves shooting you down with triple A, I think its a nice idea, it gives you chance to change heading and go home and revise your Nav!

Cool!

Heads up folks -- an offer of not one, but two (2) "Atta boys" for the first person who can say what LASER stands for!

AirRabbit

"Atta Boys" are hard to come by -- the thing is that just one "Aww S___" cancels out all previously issued Atta Boys and you have to start all over.

Light Amplification by Stimulated Emmision of Radiation.

I'm getting old. I have way too much time on my hands.

Well, I don't know about a lot of time on your hands -- but you just got 2 Atta Boys! Careful how you use them and remember; One, just one "Aw S___" and you loose all the Atta Boys and have to start all over.

At least that is what my first jet instructor told me. Each one of my turns to final was a roller coaster of emotion. One Atta Boy after another until the "Aw S__" came rolling out. Musta worked though -- here I am.

AirRabbit

lol did you say it or did he

Unfortunately -- he was the purveyor of all tidings -- glad and otherwise! It was just that in my case it was usually of the "otherwise" nature.

Ah...to go back and do that all over again with what I know now..... oops pardon, I wax nostalgic again...

AirRabbit