Laser Holiday Lights?

CT4ME

CT4ME

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CT4ME
In the interest of avoiding a full-blown SWAT attack at my house, I've been trying to get information about the FAA's opinion on those laser "holiday lights" or "landscape lights". They've been around for a few years, but are becoming increasingly popular as the price drops. They are sold everywhere, including "as seen on TV", Home Depot, WallyWorld, and all over the Internet. I just bought one on the Internet for $13.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190993960299?ru

http://www.starnightlaser.com/ http://www.getstarshower.com http://www.laserchristmaslights.com/

In normal use, these WILL shine at least some some spots into the air. Granted, it's one tiny, weak, laser beam refracted into tens-of-thousands of dots.... but. Some of the manufacturers mention they are FAA compliant, if used at least 1 mile from airports, but there is nothing in FAA regs that I've seen saying anything about lasers and 1 mile.

So far, I have not been get an answer from the nearby airport, or any word from the "Laser Event" people at the FAA. KDVT suggested I call a FSDO
 
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Not a lasers are created equal. The tiny output of those are likely not powerful enough to be a hazard in the cockpit if they even reach that far.

On the other end of the spectrum, down at Disneyland, their World of Color control room has a phone and dedicated phone line that only SoCal Approach has the number to...if that phone rings during a performance using lasers, they emergency shut down ALL lasers before they even pick up the phone!
 
What I'm worried about is the 500million drones that will be sold and given by dads to sons this xmas.

I ain't going flying on Christmas Day. There will be millions of those things in the air.
 
RalphInCA said:
What I'm worried about is the 500million drones that will be sold and given by dads to sons this xmas.

I ain't going flying on Christmas Day. There will be millions of those things in the air.
Click to expand...

Joke's on you - I'm going to give one to my dad!
 
I was looking at one of those at Wal-Mart the other day. I think I will pick one up. I'm not worried about the FAA on this.
 
At minimum, you will annoy your neighbors which should be reason enough not to light up the sky.
 
Great timing. I almost bought two from Monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=612425
I'm glad that my "Pre Black Friday 11% off of everything" discount amounted to 80 cents off a $107 order, so I walked.

I suspected that those would be disappointing.

I think I'll spring for that better one above, and make sure it stays contained in my yard.
 
CT4ME said:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190993960299?ru

http://www.starnightlaser.com/ http://www.getstarshower.com http://www.laserchristmaslights.com/
Click to expand...

The lack of technical data on the web pages for these makes it impossible to judge how safe they are. Yes, there are lasers which, due to low power and other technical details, can be pointed directly into your eye from close range for years with no damage to your eye.

The 4th link above mentions that "each of their laser dots" are less than 1 mW in power, which is probably safe but again is impossible to evaluate without knowing more on the operation of the device - can you adjust the beam spread (divergence)? Number of individual dots? Etc?

The 1st link says that the red laser is 50mW and the green is 150mW. That's a lot of power for a laser. Of course, it's spread over thousands of dots, so that helps. But if the device is "focusable" or you look at it from too close (to where you're seeing multiple dots at one time), I can see a safety hazard.

There is just not much in the way of technical details available for these. In no case did I see any reference to the "class" of laser (Class 1, 2, etc.), which should be prominently displayed. Be careful.

I don't know anything about the FAA view on these. I did used to work in the laser safety field however.
 
It is only one data point, but they did have enough concern to track down one here in Sacramento and shut it down (see above). As fellow pilots, why take a chance. Just go with an old fashioned display that has no risk at all.
 
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