[ATMoB-discuss] Green Lasers?

[Glenn M]

Well, I had to look... I can not find any clubhouse rules on the website
under the ATMoB Clubhouse heading, nor anywhere else on a quick scan.  

So... beyond exercising common sense (e.g. not pointing lasers
indiscriminately, using "street legal" lasers- Class III and below) and
being respectful of others using the site (white/red lights), what are these
rules that must be followed exactly?

I think the "...lives could be lost..." is a little over the top.  Class III
lasers are considered to pose a threat to the eye only on direct viewing and
for a time period greater than the AEL - acceptable exposure limit, which I
recall is .25 sec.  A normal blink reflex would protect you from damage.
Same for pilots.  

I would hope no one in the club would ever point any laser at another
person, nor point one into any optics indiscriminately.  Also note - the
green lasers are pumped with another laser that is outside of the visible
range.  Don't think it's safe to look into it if the green light isn't
coming out... It might be emitting the pump wavelength which has potential
to injure you since your blink reflex won't protect you from something you
can't see.

Regarding FAA and the Hill, the notice on the aero charts is there because
of the nature of the work that is conducted up there, even beyond Firepond.
The notices are to get pilots to look for NOTAMs, which are issued for
special situations, which firing up the Firepond lasers would certainly have
been.  There are several high power radar systems in regular use that focus
their energy into relatively narrow beams, and which could pose a hazard,
though probably only momentary, to the aircraft's radio NAV aids if they
were point at it.  For that reason, we wouldn't point these kinds of radar
systems toward aircraft or ever attempt to track them without their
cooperation.

(I spent ~10 months at the Firepond site testing one of those high power
radar systems.  The MIT folks take safety and that common sense stuff very
seriously, and we would loose our welcome quickly if we screwed up, hurt
someone, or got accused of pointing a laser at aircraft.)

...gm



-----Original Message-----
From: atmob-discuss-bounces at atmob.org
[mailto:atmob-discuss-bounces at atmob.org] On Behalf Of valleli at rcn.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 10:29 PM
To: Michael Aramini; Bern Kosicki; atmob-discuss at atmob.org
Subject: Re: Re: [ATMoB-discuss] Green Lasers?


Mike,
No dispensation is available from the FAA anywhere in CONUS. Each time a
firing was scheduled from Oak Ridge Lunar Laser Ranger or Firepond, a call
had to go into a CT clearing center for a proper NOTAM. Mike can give more
details.

All we need is one accidental hit to a cockpit and we are shut down and
probably bankrupted via the legal process.

The ATMoB rules must be followed exactly - I am sure the Executive Board
will back this up.

Sorry to be a spoilsport but we are playing with fire and some lives could
be lost out of foolishness.

Paul
_______________________________________________
ATMoB-discuss mailing list
ATMoB-discuss at atmob.org
http://lists.atmob.org/mailman/listinfo/atmob-discuss