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Coalition Against Stupid Lights

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I'm glad that I'm not in the minority...night videos of moving lights elicit nothing more than a yawn from me.
 
About laser pointers -- you're breaking the law and creating a hazard if you point one at an aircraft. Our local astronomical society uses them (green ones are great for pointing out stars etc.) but we're warned to never point them at anything flying. You could blind a pilot who's using night vision goggles or damage equipment. The possible results (legal and otherwise) are horrendous.
 
Xylo said:
I'm glad that I'm not in the minority...night videos of moving lights elicit nothing more than a yawn from me.
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Yup! I'm with you there. YouTube is full of such videos, and I just don't bother with them. They could be anything in most cases. Now the Belgium triangle was an exception, that was low enough and behaved in such a way as to be clearly not one of ours, and the famous photos of it showing it's shape pretty much cinch it.
 
I don't have a problem with most of their ideas, but the bit about laser pointers triggered an alarm. People have been prosecuted for aiming lasers at planes.
 
I just love this CoalitionForStupidLights. Especially where he put the two photos together, showing, "This is a spaceship" and "This is not a spaceship." I'll never forget the night I was listening to a 'certain radio show', with the topic being Ufos, and this woman calls in, excitedly disclosing her encounter with "An alien space craft." She proceeded to describe a far away light in the sky that could have been a --number-- of mundane things. I am convinced that this --human-- phenomenon of incorrect perception/belief, is behind the Ufo phenomenon becoming a cultural myth of EPIC proportions, feuled by Ufo 'Authorities' with agendas of their own.
 
I was fascinated when he said if a camera of any kind isn't good enough, GET RADAR! Hey! Radar! And he points us to a passive radar we can get for about $850 and which hooks into our PC. This is truly groovy! It's *passive* radar, so a transmitter somewhere else has to be painting your targets or they have to have transponders, but it's pretty damn cool! I want one, I just can't afford it.
 
yea, a lot of that stuff is quite pricey. i do like the laser pointer idea though. showing that the thing you are photographing has actual mass and is physically there.
 
Hi there! I am glad ya'll like the page. Regarding the use of the laser pointer, it is illegal to point at legitimate manned flights of civilian and military aircraft following FAA IFR and VFR flight rules. HOWEVER airborne vehicles clearly not following any FAA rules or regulations are not subject to FAA protection.
In our case this means vehicles with that fit all of the following criteria

no transponder
no flight plan
not reporting to any ATC center
no identifying markings
not at the proper altitude

It would be incredibly difficult if not impossible to prosecute you for laser tagging a classified platform. They would not be able to document the craft or its occupants. I'm certainly not trying to cause wholesale laser tagging of air traffic. If you are not sure, or not comfortable, by all means don't do it.

---------- Post added at 11:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 PM ----------
Martina said:
.... Now the Belgium triangle was an exception, that was low enough and behaved in such a way as to be clearly not one of ours, and the famous photos of it showing it's shape pretty much cinch it.
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The Belgian triangle (the large one, not the smaller ones) is an American recon platform called the stealth blimp. See my site The Stealth Blimp Dot Com
 
i am the stealthmaster said:
Hi there! I am glad ya'll like the page. Regarding the use of the laser pointer, it is illegal to point at legitimate manned flights of civilian and military aircraft following FAA IFR and VFR flight rules. HOWEVER airborne vehicles clearly not following any FAA rules or regulations are not subject to FAA protection.
In our case this means vehicles with that fit all of the following criteria

no transponder
no flight plan
not reporting to any ATC center
no identifying markings
not at the proper altitude

It would be incredibly difficult if not impossible to prosecute you for laser tagging a classified platform. They would not be able to document the craft or its occupants. I'm certainly not trying to cause wholesale laser tagging of air traffic. If you are not sure, or not comfortable, by all means don't do it.
Click to expand...

At the time of the tagging, how do you know if they are squawking? Under VFR rules no flight plan is required and altitude restrictions are sort of a grey area in noncontrolled airspace. Military aircraft or unlicensed, undesignated aircraft are not necessarily required to have clear markings. I think this sort of thing is reckless and has a huge potential for disaster. in fact I think there was something many many years ago were a pilot flying a passenger jet was momentarily blinded by a laser light during takeoff climb. A potentially dangerous time. I will check but I am pretty certain that the military can complain and have you charged with reckless endangerment without disclosing information about the aircraft involved. That whole practice is just ill advised.
 
Ron Collins said:
Yeah, I read the line. Still doesn't stop me from pointing out that it is a really stupid thing to do.
Click to expand...
So flying dark classified vehicles in civilian and commercial airspace, with no markings or navigation lights, not reporting to ATC centers and endangering passenger air traffic is acceptable to you then? Making tens of thousands of Americans feel like they have a mental problem by lying to them about what they have seen is acceptable to you as well? I certainly appreciate your point of view, and the opportunity to engage you but I will have to disagree on the methodologies of documenting anomalous airborne platforms. Incredible lengths have been taken to hide them from the public, and incredibly good documentation will have to be taken to expose them.
 
i am the stealthmaster said:
So flying dark classified vehicles in civilian and commercial airspace, with no markings or navigation lights, not reporting to ATC centers and endangering passenger air traffic is acceptable to you then? Making tens of thousands of Americans feel like they have a mental problem by lying to them about what they have seen is acceptable to you as well? I certainly appreciate your point of view, and the opportunity to engage you but I will have to disagree on the methodologies of documenting anomalous airborne platforms. Incredible lengths have been taken to hide them from the public, and incredibly good documentation will have to be taken to expose them.
Click to expand...

No it is not acceptable to me. But neither is this. This has the potential to cause a fatal accident for the pilot and potentially anyone that might be struck on the ground. I am in favor of aggressively going after undocumented flights by tracking their flight and eventual landing point and bringing a case to the FAA under flight safety rules infringement grounds. Sure, it isn't as sexy as a laser gun but it has a better chance at success without endangering lives.
 
trainedobserver said:
Maybe I'm just showing my ignorance here but would a powerful halogen lamp not serve the same purpose? Would it be illegal as well?
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spotlights can also be dangerous. Shinning powerful lights into the cockpit of an aircraft is kind of like doing it to a car. Except the aircraft can't hit the brakes. It is just a bad idea. There are better ways of going about this.
 
Ron Collins said:
spotlights can also be dangerous. Shinning powerful lights into the cockpit of an aircraft is kind of like doing it to a car. Except the aircraft can't hit the brakes. It is just a bad idea. There are better ways of going about this.
Click to expand...

Low power radar perhaps? Like a traffic radar gun? Or one you use on baseball pitchers? Ultrasound maybe?
 
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