Just got off the phone with my sister-in-law. She and my brother are on their way back to the mid-west from Carson City, NV. She was talking on the CB with another driver, and running about 1/2 mile behind him. All of a sudden, he stood on the brakes and stopped in the hiway. When she got him back on the CB, he said he could not see. There had been a very bright flash, his eyes were watering, hurt like h$!!, and he could not see the road.
She stopped behind him and tried to help. He was finally able to get his eyes open, but when they left, his eyes were still watering. He wasn't sure if the flash came from the sky near the horizon or from somewhere on the ground. She said she kept him on the radio until they got to a truck stop and he pulled off.
I've been expecting this for a couple of years. I've been watching the board to see if anyone says they've experienced anything like it. I don't think you'll have to worry about it a lot if your load does not have placards. I won't go into any more detail than that, at this point. What follows was written by a retired FBI Agent.
Quote:
September 2004: a Delta airlines plane was heading for Salt Lake City International Airport on an evening flight from Dallas, Texas. Five miles from the city, the Boeing 737 started its descent into a routine circular formation in preparation for landing. Suddenly, a flash of intense, bright light blasted through the cockpit windshield and pierced the eyes of the crew. The pain was excruciating. The pilot could hardly keep his hands on the controls. Where had the light come from and would he be able to land the jet safely?
December 2004: news reports began to circulate about a memo issued by the FBI and Homeland Security Department warning that "...there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons." In particular, it expressed concern that lasers might be used to blind pilots during an approach to an airport. Indeed, by the end of the following year - 2005 - there had been nearly 300 verified laser incidents involving pilots in the U.S.
|
In a commercial jet, they have to fire the laser upward. That together with the angle of the windshield on an aircraft will mean that most of the photons will be reflected into space. Since there was no mention of any holes "punched" into anything, that seems not to be the intention. Instead of a pin-point, or pencil beam, the beam opens out to cover more area. Still, much narrower than a flashlight. They're trying to blind the crew. The laser would seem to be powerful enough to cause permanent blindness, but because of the angle of penetration, the percentage of penetration is not high enough to achieve that. (The greater the angle of penetration, the closer to parallel, the greater the amount of light that is reflected.)
I'm sure they would find the crash of a commercial jet much more to their liking. Big splash, big headlines, lots of news coverage. But if they want to kill people... Their most successful attack on us has been to use our own technology against us. If they can not make a jet crash into a city, we're the next step.
Simply blinding any driver will not kill enough people in the resulting crash. But, a hazmat spill could be a different story altogether. Ordinary sun glasses will not be enough, and wearing a welding helmet all day, every day, is not practical. I also doubt very much if any of you will see it coming. How do we protect ourselves?
In any of your responses,
please do not mention any specific compounds, or scenarios. I don't know who all reads this and we do not have to volunteer any information they may not already have.
I've been expecting this, don't know what took so long...
