The journey of 1300nm begins...

ArrowFlyer86

ArrowFlyer86

Pattern Altitude
PoA Supporter
Joined
Jul 17, 2019
Messages
1,988
Location
Chicago suburbs
Display Name
Display name:
The Little Arrow That Could
With getting lasered by some ****ing jack ass who was aiming at planes on final RWY18 at my refueling airport: Springdale Arkansas (KASG). At about 200 AGL I see a hovering green dot to my left that catches me off guard, turn, and I'm almost completely blinded. Guy had a true aim and held it there for a solid 3-4 seconds on and off before he left off. I hit full throttle and was going to go around and turn my tail away from where it was coming from, but I was able instead to rescue the landing.

I let ATC know as it was happening and plan to call tomorrow to see what comes of it.

Honest question: is there any protocol for what you're supposed to do if some **** stain lasers you?

On the plus side I made it down to Abilene TX. Pretty much one long night of flying. And my trip over Missouri was at sunset and got some nice photos. They might not size right uploading from my phone.
PXL_20241112_221520986.jpg
PXL_20241112_232058411.jpg
PXL_20241112_233813279.MP.jpg
PXL_20241113_021609003.MP.jpg


I was going to grab a seat on this nice park bench at the airport until I saw the sign. I ain't in Illinois anymore I guess!
PXL_20241113_042654888.jpg
PXL_20241113_042219460.MP.jpg
 
Last edited:
Sorry to hear that. On Oct 27 in the evening I was landing at KGGG and being vectored behind a small jet. On final to Rwy 13 they received a laser hit. Tower advised me about it but we never saw anything thankfully.

After they landed, the pilot asked Tower what the follow up would be. Tower said they report it to law enforcement and it’s taken seriously. Pilot told ATC it was the worst one they ever experienced.

Any lessons or advice on what you should do or warnings of what not to do?

Are they still a tiny dot or pretty wide by the time it gets to the plane that it hits your eye?

Beautiful pics. Safe travels.
 
If you're able to guess a rough location of where it was done, there has been at least one case of some amateur detective work asking for security camera footage (from storage areas and the like) which has led to a conviction.
 
AvNavCom said:
If you're able to guess a rough location of where it was done, there has been at least one case of some amateur detective work asking for security camera footage (from storage areas and the like) which has led to a conviction.
Click to expand...
As much as I'd want to catch the #%&!, the last thing I'm going to do if I'm getting lasered is look toward the source while it's happening.
 
Jim_R said:
As much as I'd want to catch the #%&!, the last thing I'm going to do if I'm getting lasered is look toward the source while it's happening.
Click to expand...
Agreed, but that wasn't what I was suggesting. Most laser incidents in my experience (and I've dealt with quite a few of them) occur from ground areas relatively near the airport. If you have a sense of roughly where you were at the time of the laser incident relative to the airport, and you also have a sense of roughly where the laser came from (directly left, forward left, etc.) then there's a possibility you could guess likely spots and see if there's footage. Very small chance, I agree, but it has happened. Aviation News Talk had an interesting episode in which a guy tracked down the culprit by finding him on storage unit footage, which also got his license plate and a nice shot of the dude himself doing it.

Other options are to make local inquiries. Odds are it's not the first time they've lit someone up, and if people are generally getting hit in the same area, it narrows down the area for law enforcement or a bit of amateur detective work. I'm not suggesting everyone become a sleuth, but if asking around could help find the perpetrator, it might be worth the effort.
 
What kind of miscreant gets their jollies off on doing this ****? What's the goal?
 
I’ve had the pleasure of helping to catch four laser operators in the Tucson area over the past few years. The Tucson Police dept helicopter flies nightly. Every time an aircraft reports a laser event to me in the tower, or through tracon who tells me, I send Air1 to the coordinate given. Hasn’t worked every time but has at least four times for me.

I don’t know what happens after they catch the person though
 
I don't think they have any idea that they could cause a crash and loss of life.

I wonder how they would feel if they brought down and airliner and killed hundreds of people
 
Thanks all. I made the mistake of looking directly at it because the idea that I was staring directly into a laser didn't cross my mind. The best report I could give to ATC was that it was about 1-1.5 miles off my left wing to the east. I could see the big window it was coming from, even though I only saw it momentarily.

@Zeldman that seems like a good and obvious idea to turn off my lights. From that distance at night time he'd have a hell of a hard time finding me I'd guess?

Hoping I don't have that **** for the rest of the trip. And @Timbeck2 thank you - you're doing the Lord's work by helping in catching those people. Idk what kind of soul it takes to enjoy doing that to a random person.
 
But to clarify once I realized what was going on I didn't continue looking at it. Also, I underestimated the amount of scatter that would occur in the cabin when it hits the window.
 

I think I posted this somewhere here when it happened, but I got nailed by a green laser earlier this year or late last year. He kept lighting me up for a couple minutes and since it happened over my hometown, I knew exactly what intersection he was at. I climbed and gave the report to Approach, landed, called the cops and gave my report. Later that night I submitted my incident report to the FAA at the link above.
Haven't heard anything since so I wonder if I should have landed immediately so I could get the cops in the vicinity sooner, assuming they even cared and dispatched someone.
 
AvNavCom said:
one case of some amateur detective work asking for security camera footage (from storage areas and the like) which has led to a conviction.
Click to expand...
www.justice.gov

Snohomish County man who aimed laser at two small planes sentenced to prison

Seattle – A 41-year-old Snohomish County resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to eight months in prison for two counts of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
 
Made it to... The airplane boneyard!

Didn't realize they got crushed by flooding a couple weeks ago. All the rental cars were taken, which was not reflected online when I booked....

Tomorrow I'll finish the voyage to Arizona, but I enjoy stopping here.

More airplanes than I remember in 2022 being torn down. Dozens of them parked out here and not a single engine on them. Windows taped over, or some other aluminum color barrier they put over them.
PXL_20241113_215606807.jpg
PXL_20241113_215602604.jpg
Random cliffs in the middle of nowhere in west Texas.
PXL_20241113_213319995.jpg

Not a cloud as far as the eye could see! Nowhere near as many bumps as I got when it was 95 F out.
PXL_20241113_212201654.jpg
 
Last edited:
Pinecone said:
I don't think they have any idea that they could cause a crash and loss of life.

I wonder how they would feel if they brought down and airliner and killed hundreds of people
Click to expand...
I'm guessing they would be scared of being caught, but little else.

Let'sgoflying! said:
www.justice.gov

Snohomish County man who aimed laser at two small planes sentenced to prison

Seattle – A 41-year-old Snohomish County resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to eight months in prison for two counts of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
Click to expand...
This is just 15 NM north of my home drome, fly past there often, and I never heard about it. He should have gotten the year and a day the prosecution was requesting--even more.

If you are doing less than a year on a federal rap, do you serve it in a federal prison or county jail? Is this why the prosecutor was requesting a year and a day?
I believe in WA State sentences of less than a year are served in county and a year or more in State Prison.
 
Domenick said:
If you are doing less than a year on a federal rap, do you serve it in a federal prison or county jail? Is this why the prosecutor was requesting a year and a day?
I believe in WA State sentences of less than a year are served in county and a year or more in State Prison.
Click to expand...
Max Trescott did a pretty good interview with the pilot on Aviation News Talk. Goes into the prosecution a bit and why sentencing was requested the way it was. Short version is apparently this dude had some fairly serious addiction issues and the pilot involved had some sympathy for that, preferring treatment as part of the sentence as opposed to longer imprisonment.

I was interesting to hear how the guy landed the plane near-blind basically by hunkering down in the cockpit with his instruments on max-bright and used the synthetic vision on his PFD (G3x or something similar) to line up on the runway and land. Crazy!

296 Blinded by a Laser Beam: How a Pilot Fought for Justice + GA News – Aviation News Talk

aviationnewstalk.com aviationnewstalk.com
 
Didn't take my normal route around Tucson, instead cut over to FFZ from Roswell (south to El paso, deming then direct FFZ). Cruises 8500 the whole way to stay on flight following as much as possible!
PXL_20241114_223322262.jpg
PXL_20241114_221622577.jpg
PXL_20241114_213643174.jpg
PXL_20241114_215028993.jpg
Snow on some of these mountains. Glare makes it a little tough to see.
PXL_20241114_222132795.jpg
 
Last edited:
After about 2 weeks in AZ I finally got back.

Today the tailwind gods blessed me. Managed to fly from Roswell NM to my homedrome in Chicago in 6h4mins. Last time I did that flight it was 9h. Had a brief stop in Topeka KS for fuel.

Averaged approx 135TAS at 7500' on the way back doing a ground speed between 160 and 175kts. Burned about 9.5 gph. Despite the AIRMET for turbulence and LLWS for my enroute area it was smooth sailing.

Loved my stay at KFFZ with Cunningham Aviation. Don't think I'll go back to KSDL (even though signature is pretty good there... But way more expensive).
 
Did you grab a bite to eat while you were in Topeka?

www.pilotsofamerica.com

Northeast Kansas New Destination

This is my first post on this forum. Little background. 1. I'm not a pilot, but I'm in love with everything aviation! 2. My father was a pilot for 50 years and I grew up in and around planes. 3. My best friend is an Air Force pilot 4. We live near an Air Force base and every time a...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
 
Racerx said:
Did you grab a bite to eat while you were in Topeka?

www.pilotsofamerica.com

Northeast Kansas New Destination

This is my first post on this forum. Little background. 1. I'm not a pilot, but I'm in love with everything aviation! 2. My father was a pilot for 50 years and I grew up in and around planes. 3. My best friend is an Air Force pilot 4. We live near an Air Force base and every time a...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
Click to expand...
I didn't! But I saw on FlightsForBites that someone left a comment yesterday announcing the opening of the SKY restaurant. Looks decent!
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
I didn't! But I saw on FlightsForBites that someone left a comment yesterday announcing the opening of the SKY restaurant. Looks decent!
Click to expand...
Owner popped in and started that thread. I had to let him know about the awesome secret that is flightsforbites. The former cafe was listed but not the new place which does look pretty nice.
 
[Mods, please feel free to move this thread to COOL PLACES TO FLY forum... Since it kind of morphed from a write-up about a lasering incident into a trip journal]

Post trip write-up:
Great trip overall.
As I've probably mentioned on a few times on other trip writeups the southwest is my favorite place to fly.

Basics:
Trip was in a Piper Arrow 2 (PA28R-200, non-turbo)

Route there
Dictated by the need to get out before nasty fall weather hit from the west, which resulted in an indirect southern route.
Day1: KDPA -> KASG [refuel] -> KABI [refuel] (7.1 hours flight time)
Day2: KABI -> KROW [refuel] (2.1h flight time)
Day3: KROW -> KFFZ (3.4h flight time)
Total enroute time: 12.6 hours
Burning about 9.8gals/hr

It was my first time cutting across the mountains instead of following I-10 after clearing the restricted areas near KELP. Glad I did. More scenic! Although the other route is nothing to sneeze at either IMHO.
1732738526656.png

Flying around Phoenix:
Due to logistical hurdles for ground transportation I didn't get to do my Sedona flight (sigh). I also didn't know F1 was in Vegas so we had to ditch our flight to Vegas (double sigh).
Instead I had to settle for taking my buddy up and flying around different mountains in the phoenix area. Still a great time. I may have sold him on pursuing his PPL or Sports license!

Route back:
Day1: KFFZ (Falcon Field) -> KROW (Roswell) [refuel] (3.2 hours)
Day2: KROW -> KTOP (Topeka [refuel]) -> KDPA (DuPage) (6.1 hours)
Total: 9.3 hours on the return voyage (praise god for southwest tailwinds!)
Burned about 9.5gph

1732738624528.png

Trip stats:
Flying west I did 6500' at ~130-135 TAS until Roswell NM. From Roswell to Phoenix I flew at 8500' to stay on comms with flight following in the mountains (and for more safety buffer).
Flying east I did 7500' at ~135 TAS for pretty much the entire route.

- For almost the entire path I was on Flight Following. I didn't file a VFR flight plan for any portion.
- Per my usual trip planning, I always leave an hour of fuel reserves.
- I prioritized Class C/D airports for services in case I needed them.
- All the FBOs I visited had good service. Summit at KASG, Abilene Aero at KABI, AvFlight at KROW, Cunningham at KFFZ, and TOP at KTOP.

Lessons:
- Always check to make sure the door is latched tightly before takeoff... I taxi'd around with it ajar to get a cross breeze while I waited for takeoff in Phoenix, and when I did a half-ass close/latch once they told me to line up and wait, it wasn't actually latched. First (and hopefully last) time I make that mistake!
- I need to get a little better on my passenger briefings... Specifically the "don't talk to me while I'm talking on the radio" instructions :)

Photos.
1732740777590.png
1732740805146.png
1732741152603.png
1732740825527.png

I was trying to figure out why there's this big range of black, wavy, almost lava-looking rock features...
1732741022526.png
Coming up on El Paso
1732740863630.png

Anyone wanna guess which VOR station this is?
1732740970196.png

And the "weather is getting depressing again.. I must be getting close to Chicago" photo

1732740929922.png
 
Last edited:
I also spent nearly half the trip doing hiking and mountain biking around the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Here are some photos from that.

1732741665654.png
1732741692045.png
1732741740463.png
1732741766853.png

1732741799750.png
1732741820195.png

I guess people in Arizona really don't like trail signs...
1732741857853.png
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
Always check to make sure the door is latched tightly before takeoff... I taxi'd around with it ajar to get a cross breeze while I waited for takeoff in Phoenix, and when I did a half-ass close/latch once they told me to line up and wait, it wasn't actually latched. First (and hopefully last) time I make that mistake!
Click to expand...
Cue the narration by a former Arrow owner: It was not the last time he made that mistake.
 
My passenger briefing for first time flyers. If I put my hand up stop talking. If you don't stop talking, there's a reason my hand is up.

Also. Those black things by your feet...those ain't footrests
 
Racerx said:
My passenger briefing for first time flyers. If I put my hand up stop talking. If you don't stop talking, there's a reason my hand is up.

Also. Those black things by your feet...those ain't footrests
Click to expand...
My brief on the pedals was "honestly, if you press those at the wrong time it could be really bad".
No pedals were pressed. Mission success :)

flyingcheesehead said:
PIO Pinon? Looks like a fun one for the FAA maintenance guys to drive to!
Click to expand...
I'm curious how you guessed this by the way. Deduction on the flight path? Or have you flown over it before and recognized it?
My altitude took me pretty close over PIO and a bit higher (AGL) over SSO, which were both waypoints on my journey.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top