Laser-Proof Sunglasses for the Cockpit?

[Juvat]

All the recent lasers being shined into airline cockpits has me wondering--does anyone know of any laser-proof sunglasses that are available for purchase?

 

[furloughfodder]

Reminds me of the song "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night" by Corey Hart.

 

[Snoopy58]

You'd probably have to specify what wavelength range you want to protect against. From what I recall, you can get (at least, the AF can get) normal size/weight glasses that filter out a particular wavelength of laser light, but to get broad-spectrum protection against everything out there, you'd end up with some serious coke-bottle lenses that would be unwieldly to wear & probably hard to see through -- particularly at night.

Might be better off wearing "day-vision goggles" that put a CRT or LCD display between your eyes and the outside world... although peripheral vision becomes an issue at that point.

 

[Juvat]

hmmm...

...yeah, I guess it would be pretty strange wearing sunglasses at night. I didn't consider that. I was actually thinking about some type of protection during the daytime. I know the USAF used to have special helmet visors that protected the eyes from reflected laser energy when using laser targeting pods. It seems like it would be easy to make sunglasses out of the same type of material. Has anyone heard of such a thing?

 

[Snoopy58]

Your visor probably did a great job with the range of frequencies that the targeting pod could put out, but against a laser of a different frequency, I doubt it would do much good. Unless the bad guys cooperate by only making lasers in a particular (and narrow) frequency range, I doubt any single visor / glasses solution will work real well.

 

[nck4857]

Easy solution: just fly with a patch on one eye, if you get your good eye fried, just take off the patch and you're good to go.

 

[Juvat]

Hah! Good one!

 

[Sleepyhead]

Just cover the windows with newspaper. We are all flying IFR anyway.

 

[UALjan15]

Easy solution: just fly with a patch on one eye, if you get your good eye fried, just take off the patch and you're good to go.

You sound like an old Buff driver!

Time to increase the ol' disability and loss of license insurance......

 

[jstars135]

Oakley makes an M-Frame laser lens in Strike and Hybrid shape. Its called Oakley Laser Toric. I'm not smart on lasers, but here's what it says.
Laser attenuation - Optical Density of at least 4.0 at wavelengths between 820nm and 850nm. Optical Density of at least 4.0 at wavelength of 1064nm. Optical density measured at both eye positions with an IPD of 64mm.
Optical performance - Refractive power,, prismatic power, astigmatism and optical clarity meet or exceed ANSI Z87.1-1989 requirements. Haze less than 3%. Total Luminous Transmittance of at least 50% measured at both eye positions in accordance to ANSI Z80.3-2001.

If this meets anything to anyone and you want a pair, I can get them to you delivered for $190 or $155 if you have a pair of M-frames and just want the lens. Retail is $250 and $190 respectively. Send me a PM

 

[RJP]

Just read a magazine and don't look outside. That's what the FO is for anyway.

Juvat, why don't you just wear your helmet? You must've taken it with you when you got out, right?

 

[CatYaaak]

Those Eyeballs-hanging-from-the-springs glasses work great.

 

[SMOE]

When I was at Langley (ACC HQ) a few years back, they did have sunglasses specifically for laser protection that were being tested. Don't know if they ever went with a large scale distribution though...

 

[Air Biscuit]

I have a question about these lasers for you military guys. Don't alot of rocket and missile launchers have laser sights on them? If so we could be dealing with a much more serious problem in the near future. I think these guys might be just warming up.

 

[gunfyter]

Protection from Lasers is based on the Optical Interference Coatings or Thin Films that coat the glasses or visors. This is wavelength specific. A broader spectrum would require multiple coatings. I use to design these coatings as a student at the U of Rochester Institute of Optics... while also working at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Any protective glasses that would protect against all possible wavelengths would also restrict vision.

The way the military chooses protection is based on intelligence of what laser threats are likely. I am not very current on these issues but I believe a problem with this is that a broader band of threats is available and also Lasers can be TUNED to defeat the protection.

In the 70's and 80's when I was more familiar with these issues, I believe we were only concerned about threats like the USSR having the technology to defeat our protective systems. I would imagine by now any rogue state or sophisticated Terrorist group coud easily pose a similar threat.

I believe lasers were used in the Iran Iraq war and blinded pilots causing the aircraft to crash. police helicopters were lased in LA before the Olympics there during the 80's.

 

[Juvat]

Great posts guys. It's amazing to see the breadth of experience on this forum. Thanks for the explanations about laser wavelengths and the difficulties in protecting against a wide spectrum of laser threats.

 

[Tim47SIP]

We were issued "notch 3" laser protection glasses. They work with a variety of wave lengths known as lambdas 1, 2, and 3. The are about 1/8" thick and dark brown in color for 1,2, and 3. The "notch 2" is green and offers less protection than the brown lenses with only 2 and 3. Both are somewhat dark to look through even on a bright day. I couldnt wear them. They are HGU-56P Laser Glasses by AO American Optical. There is a warning that they do not replace "laboratory laser protection goggles". Now, just what to do at night! They wont let me fly the 70 with NVG's.

 

[UALjan15]

Opsec

If we are going towards an eyeglass-style protection program, it is crucial that we keep the details OFF of public forums such as this one. The glasses will inevitably be a compromise between vision and the spectrum of the most likely laser threats. The above post doesn't address current protection glasses, but the information is exactly the type that the enemy needs to tailor their threat to our weaknesses. And if you don't think they would bother reading this forum, you don't know much about them.

Moderators, take note, and please don't hesitate to pull a post if it releases any details of a planned protection scheme. Thanks.

 

[FliptheDuck]

I have a question about these lasers for you military guys. Don't alot of rocket and missile launchers have laser sights on them? If so we could be dealing with a much more serious problem in the near future. I think these guys might be just warming up.

Most of the surface to air missile systems out there (US & non-US) are either radar or infrared based. Most of those have sophisticated high-power television optics to guide the missiles in the absence of a radar tracking solution. A few do employ a laser range finder, but the lrf is an aircraft skin tracker (probably not strong enough to damage the eye). The systems that employ these lrf's are not exactly portable, nor inconspicuous. I doubt one of them is the source of this latest incident.

 

[Tim47SIP]

Old Info!

Moderators, take note, and please don't hesitate to pull a post if it releases any details of a planned protection scheme. Thanks.12-31-2004 10:12

Go into the local Home Depot and check out a pair of their laser protection goggles hanging on the wall. You will get more info on those than on my post.

This is really old unclassified info. I do agree with your intent though.

 

[General Lee]

See! I thought it was always cool to wear sunglasses at night in the cockpit, but Captains always shunned it. And, I would always sing that song too---"I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can...."


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[RJP]

opsec

Yes, for god's sake, don't post anything here that could compromise your imaginary laser sunglasses. It's a well known fact that whoever you're afraid of stalks this forum.

 

[smonica]

Maybe this question has been answered already, and I could not find anything on it.
But how does the laser beam gets into the cockpit?? A laser is a straight line, so from the ground there would be no way to direct it into the cockpit? They would have to fly in another plane next to the target airplane and shine it into the cockpit, or it comes from a point which is higher then the target plane (satellite?) or a plane flying higher. Or maybe the source sits on the end of the runway and waits for a plane too land and the shine it into the cockpit.

Anyone has any info on this?