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Old 05-03-2010, 06:37 PM
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Angry Vance pilots targeted by lasers

Vance pilots targeted by lasers

Three flight crews land safely

By Jeff Mullin, Senior Writer Enid News and Eagle
ENID — Learning to fly is hard, learning to fly a military aircraft is even harder.

And learning to fly a military aircraft at night is hardest of all.

Because of the fact many combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan are flown after dark, more emphasis has been placed in recent years on training military student pilots to fly at night.

As a result, every three weeks the men and women earning their wings at Vance Air Force Base do their flying after the sun goes down. The next night flying week at Vance is scheduled to begin Monday.

During a recent night flying week, the difficult and dangerous business of learning to fly at night was made even more difficult and dangerous when three Vance aircraft were the targets of a concentrated beam of green laser light, either from a laser pointer or a laser rifle scope.

All three aircraft, a T-6A Texan II and two T-38s, landed safely, but all six pilots had to report to the Vance Clinic for precautionary eye exams. All were cleared by flight surgeons.

“They were on final turns to come into the base,” said Bob Farrell, Vance’s chief of community relations. “That’s a very critical phase of flight.”

The aircraft were flying at an altitude about 1,000 feet when their canopies were illuminated by lasers.

“Unfortunately, they were in the worst spot possible when this happened,” said Lt. Col. Ted Weibel, Vance’s chief of safety. “The critical phase of flight, absolutely, is the last 1,000 feet coming in and landing. That’s when the pilots need their eyes the most.”

If a laser is shined in a motorist’s eyes, he or she can slow down, or stop and pull over until their night vision returns. Pilots have no such option, however.

“I absolutely rely on my eyes for everything in a plane, even though it’s dark outside,” Weibel said. “Without those I am useless as a pilot.”

Each of the Vance aircraft hit by lasers had two pilots aboard, but about 10 to 15 percent of missions flown each night that week were solos. If a solo pilot was temporarily blinded by a laser, he or she might have no option other than to eject. Military pilots are trained to do their best to point their aircraft away from populated areas if they are forced to eject, but might not have the chance if they find themselves literally flying blind.

“If those guys are temporarily blinded, they don’t know if they are pointing the aircraft at an open field or a shopping center,” Farrell said.

Weibel said laser incidents are rare at Vance, and throughout Air Education and Training Command, but not worldwide. In 2009 there were 1,527 laser illumination incidents reported to Federal Aviation Administration, up from 311 in 2005.

Vance’s incidents were reported to the Enid Police Department, which is investigating in conjunction with Air Force law enforcement personnel.

“It’s a federal crime to do anything that’s going to endanger an aircraft or endanger a pilot who’s operating an aircraft,” said Maj. Jim Annexstad, Vance’s staff judge advocate.

Anyone caught and convicted of shining a laser at an aircraft would face a jail term up to 20 years and a hefty fine, he added.

Vance officials don’t think their aircraft were targeted out of maliciousness, but simply out of ignorance.

“We think it’s an awareness issue,” said Annexstad. “We want the city of Enid to be aware of the safety concerns that it poses for not only our pilots but for the folks downtown. And also to be aware that it’s a crime, which they might not be aware of. It is definitely a serious, serious issue.”

Vance officials don’t think their planes were targeted by someone with a hand-held laser pointer designed for use by lecturers, but rather by a rifle-mounted laser scope.

“I have a fairly steady hand,” Weibel said. “I don’t think I could take an inexpensive laser and pin it on a plane a mile or two away from me. We think it would take a fairly high quality laser to get a plane.”

A laser striking an aircraft’s cockpit is refracted and diffused by the canopy and by tiny particles of dust in the air. The light temporarily robs the pilot of his night vision and has the potential to cause eye damage.

“It is a major distraction when it hits a windshield, or it hits a canopy and hits something reflective and it starts bouncing around, it is very disorienting to have to deal with,” Weibel said. “It’s kind of like being in a European disco, with lights going every which way and you don’t know what’s going on.”

Navy Lt. Andrew Parsons, a flight surgeon with the Vance Clinic, said laser pointers can cause permanent eye damage.

“In addition to the disorienting effect, it can cause scarring to the cornea, it can cause a cataract and, if the laser is powerful enough, it can get to the retina,” said Parsons. “If the retina gets damaged, that’s what leads to permanent vision loss, which is a possibility in this case.”

Farrell urged anyone who witnesses someone shining a laser at a Vance aircraft to confront the person and tell them it is not only dangerous, but illegal, or simply to contact the Enid Police Department. He said Vance’s pilots have been able to pinpoint a couple of possible locations from which the lasers originated.

“The issue is not to try to go after them, the issue is to prevent further incidents,” Farrell said.

http://enidnews.com/localnews/x12717...eted-by-lasers
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