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Originally Posted by Azathoth
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I'm going to assume that since that article mentions he suffered pain and temporary blindness (not flash blindness) and made no mention of being hit with a laser until the medical examination determined what likely happened - It was almost certainly a high powered infrared laser that hit the aircraft. I mean it's pretty obvious when you get hit with a visible laser.
US Troops are regularly issued hand held targeting lasers in the hundreds of mw of power. Ones mounted on vehicle or crew served platforms can sometimes have even more powerful outputs. In short, getting hit with one even at a distance is enough to ruin your day. It happens to a lot of troops returning from war zones and is a really big issue that is still being investigated right now.
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TL DR
Never is not the correct word to use.
In a perfect world everyone would have made in a trustworthy source (medical/military/scientific) grade lasers and the risks would be small. However, that is not quite yet a reality of manufacturing.
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Never is correct word when the statement is that it has never happened before in history. The FDA has zero reported injuries of a <5mw red visible spectrum laser causing any damage when people are not deliberately looking into the beam for prolonged periods of time. Those who deliberately exposed themselves for extended periods suffered a temporary injury to their eye that, in the majority, healed completely within a few days. That is a guy holding a laser to his eye for a full minute and it still healed.
The vast majority of laser injuries come from improperly labeled China lasers (such as improperly manufactured China lasers that leak a large amount of IR light). The risk to pilots is flash blindness since the receiving end of that dot is the size of their cockpit. A much different problem but very much a real hazard to those operating air craft.
We all go with FDA approved lasers - Lasers that were manufactured, rated and approved for sale within specification criteria. Doing so eliminates almost all the potential risk of eye injury. China lasers are out - I have seen NCStar lasers on two separate occasions leak dangerous IR light. That is just me, personally. So NCstar is out. G&P cheapo lasers, despite looking cool on guns, are also out since their labels are not accurate. If there is any doubt what so ever the laser warning sticker on your unit is falsified, or the unit is not properly rated or no one knows who the manufacturer is - it's also out. When in doubt: it's out.
There are much, much bigger risks through playing the game that warrant discussions before we even get to the topic of lasers. As long as people are using real steel FDA approved lasers then that risk drops to very, very low levels. If you want to use a laser at one of the events? You can go out and buy a real laser from a real manufacturer. They aren't that expensive. If you can't do that, you don't get the privilege to use one.
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Originally Posted by mcguyver
And, if said damage does not, or has not occurred, there would be no ratings on lasers at all, and nobody would be regulating them, anywhere.
Your stance on this issue is irresponsible at best, and malicious at worst.
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If you have any documentation of a <5mw red laser causing permanent eye damage from anything but deliberate long term exposure, I would love to see it.
If you believe my implementation of safety standards is wrong, or deliberately malicious, that's fine. You do not need to attend any of my events. Free market at work. However anyone not coming to my events for risk of damage from a rated <5mw red laser, I would also expect to see them advocating for full seal, full face mask games that have mandatory eating and hydration periods only played at venues that have had their properties meticulously sweeped for injury hazards.
And I mean, no night airsoft anymore either. Too risky.