http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050105/D87DUR3O0.html

This is what it has come to people. Some dude is going to go to jail for 25 years for playing with his daughter.

Read the whole story.


NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A man charged with temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot of an airplane with a laser beam claims he was simply using the device to look at stars with his 7-year-old daughter.

Federal authorities on Tuesday used the Patriot Act to charge David Banach, 38, with interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. He is the first person arrested after a recent rash of reports around the nation of lasers being beamed at airplanes.

If convicted, Banach could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $500,000.

The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but called Banach's actions "foolhardy and negligent."

Banach, of suburban Parsippany, admitted to federal agents that he pointed the light beam at a jet and a helicopter over his home near Teterboro Airport last week, authorities said. Initially, he claimed his daughter aimed the device at the helicopter, they said.

Banach's lawyer said his statements were given during several hours of questioning without an attorney present and that he was being harshly prosecuted because authorities were eager for an arrest.

The jet, a chartered Cessna Citation, was landing Dec. 29 with six people aboard when a green light beam struck the windshield three times at about 3,000 feet, according to court documents. The pilot and co-pilot were temporarily blinded but were able to land the plane safely.

Two days later, a Port Authority police helicopter trying to pinpoint the origin of the beam was hit by a laser. A copter crew member then shined a spotlight on the house where the beam had originated so that officers on the ground could go there. Soon afterward, FBI agents came to Banach's house, authorities said.

The patriot act was passed to deal with terrorism, this isn't terrorism. So why is he charged under the patriot act? Any laser that this dude had that hit the piolts couldn't of been more than a flashlight in the eyes. They probably had to blink a few times. So, for that he goes to jail for 25 years. Bull****.

Not to mention he made "false statements to the FBI". When you lie, you dig yourself deeper into a hole.

Not to mention he made "false statements to the FBI". When you lie, you dig yourself deeper into a hole.


And if FBI agents showed up at your door, wouldn't you be scared ****less? This dude is NOT a criminal. I am surprised that you, of all people, would think he should be punished. Espically since your son has had people attempt to attempt to judge him by a hard and fast set of rules, even when they weren't fair. I thought you would show some compasion.

This is complete ****ing bull****.

And if FBI agents showed up at your door, wouldn't you be scared ****less? This dude is NOT a criminal. I am surprised that you, of all people, would think he should be punished. Espically since your son has had people attempt to attempt to judge him by a hard and fast set of rules, even when they weren't fair. I thought you would show some compasion.


And I have NEVER encouraged my son to lie. I haven't lied about my son and I didn't have him lie either. Telling the truth is the right thing to do, even if you did something wrong. What the man did was wrong and he lived near an airport. It's called using your common sense.

Common sense isn't so common.

For the record, I never said he should be punished, but looking at the circumstances, what he did was wrong and the man is my age for crying out loud. My son was 14 when he pulled his stunt and there ARE extenuating circimstances to that as well.

Even if it's not an act of terrorism it's still something he did that could have caused a disaster and he knew what he was doing. I've seen car crashes at race tracks because of those stupid things. They're more than just a flashlight. Plus he did it to other crafts, what's to keep this moron from doing it on the hwy? If the laser was strong enough to be used to point out stars like he claims he was doing then it's strong enough to blind a pilot.

So, to charge him and have him face 25 years in prison is the right thing to do? This is like making a joke about a bomb at an airport. Stupid, yes, but not criminal.

Also, MCM, your son has lied. You told us this yourself. I am happy that he wasn't expelled from school, but if he was black or mexican I am positive he would of been. That might be mean of me to say, it might upset some people here, but its true. A black child in detriot got a worse punishmen for taking a set of nail clippers to school than your son did for a knife.

My point is that judging someone by a hard and fast set of rules is cowardly. Your son made a mistake that could of seriously injuried someone. So did this man. They didn't mean to, they probably didn't think they would hurt anyone. We all do it. We speed down a strech of highway when we know we shouldn't. We run that yellow light. 99% of times no one gets hurt, and we don't get caught. In fact, we probably didn't do anything wrong.

This guy did something stupid, but he isn't a criminal. Give him some community service and maybe a 1000$ dollar fine. Thats all this needs. He obviously won't do it again. He probably **** himself when the FBI showed up.

So, to charge him and have him face 25 years in prison is the right thing to do? This is like making a joke about a bomb at an airport. Stupid, yes, but not criminal.

Also, MCM, your son has lied. You told us this yourself. I am happy that he wasn't expelled from school, but if he was black or mexican I am positive he would of been. That might be mean of me to say, it might upset some people here, but its true. A black child in detriot got a worse punishmen for taking a set of nail clippers to school than your son did for a knife.

My point is that judging someone by a hard and fast set of rules is cowardly. Your son made a mistake that could of seriously injuried someone. So did this man. They didn't mean to, they probably didn't think they would hurt anyone. We all do it. We speed down a strech of highway when we know we shouldn't. We run that yellow light. 99% of times no one gets hurt, and we don't get caught. In fact, we probably didn't do anything wrong.

This guy did something stupid, but he isn't a criminal. Give him some community service and maybe a 1000$ dollar fine. Thats all this needs. He obviously won't do it again. He probably **** himself when the FBI showed up.


Yes, my son lied, to me, to the school officials, but not to the judge. He was 14 and kids lie. This man is 38 and works with fiber optics.

My son never BRANDISHED the weapon he had. This man did.

And as far your statement about my son being white got him off, think again. Better yet, come down here to live. Mexicans and blacks get more breaks than white folks in this area. We aren't rich, so that had nothing to do with either. We're a set of parents who fought for our son because the school district failed to do there job TO BEGIN WITH. Following the laws set forth, we used them to HELP our son. He learned his lesson. If he hadn't, we would have let the judge take him to Juvi, even if we didn't think it was best for him, jus to teach him the lesson he needed. He also saw other kids in worse trouble than him at the courthouse and it was very sobering for him. In the long run, this was something my son HAD to go thru and he's one all the better for it. He's taking his second chance and doing good.

For you to compare my son's actions against that of a grown man who KNOWS what these lasers do is out of line. WAY OUT OF LINE.

If the guy get 25 years over a light pen, than that would be total bull.

http://studweb.stud.uni-stuttgart.de/studweb/users/lrt/lrt28592/le_bourget/Cessna%20Citation%20X.jpg
This is a Cessna Citation.

Noticed the location of the windows and windshield on the ****pit. Now, how can a man 3,000 feet below it blind the pilot?

I'm not saying he should get 25 years but the guy isn't innocent. Creed's trying to make it out like he did nothing wrong. He intentionally tried to interfere with a pilot. I know if I was a passenger on that plane I'd be pissed that some idiot was blinding my pilots

So, to charge him and have him face 25 years in prison is the right thing to do? This is like making a joke about a bomb at an airport. Stupid, yes, but not criminal.



It is criminal to make a joke about a bomb in an airport, just like it's criminal to yell fire in a crowded building.

Yes, my son lied, to me, to the school officials, but not to the judge. He was 14 and kids lie. This man is 38 and works with fiber optics.

My son never BRANDISHED the weapon he had. This man did.

And as far your statement about my son being white got him off, think again. Better yet, come down here to live. Mexicans and blacks get more breaks than white folks in this area. We aren't rich, so that had nothing to do with either. We're a set of parents who fought for our son because the school district failed to do there job TO BEGIN WITH. Following the laws set forth, we used them to HELP our son. He learned his lesson. If he hadn't, we would have let the judge take him to Juvi, even if we didn't think it was best for him, jus to teach him the lesson he needed. He also saw other kids in worse trouble than him at the courthouse and it was very sobering for him. In the long run, this was something my son HAD to go thru and he's one all the better for it. He's taking his second chance and doing good.

For you to compare my son's actions against that of a grown man who KNOWS what these lasers do is out of line. WAY OUT OF LINE.


I am not talking about his actions, but the fact he lied. Your son was scared, and this man was scared. The same insticts kick in. Also, the fact he is being charged as a terrorist is WRONG. However, you might say "But Shaun, the acticle said that the man wasn't a terrorist, so they aren't charging him as one." WRONG! He is being charged under the patriot act which was put into law to combat and charge terrorists. If he isn't a terrorist, charge him for doing something stupid under a normal law. That way he isn't facing 25 years in prison.

wow u all seem upset over this bull****, GET OVER IT, we all no life isnt fair, so now what? you all are gonna cry about it? boo ****in woo :violin:

Show your tits.

::grabs second violin and joins Agony::

:violin:

Show your tits.


no fabio

even though he's being charged in regards to the Patriot Act "The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but called Banach's actions 'foolhardy and negligent'." so quit martyring this dude creed. obviously he's not gonna get 25 years in jail you moron.

i already brought this topic up in the poli forums as to show yet another example of how pathetic the MEDIA is. it has nothing to do with how pathetic the Patriot Act is. the media is simply showing ties to this guy's actions---> potential violation of Patriot Act---->potential maximum penalty. more hype created to make stupid people concerned.

curly's right. the moral of this story is simply that this guy's an idiot and we shouldn't be idiots. btw, can someone tell me how a $100 laser beam will help you see a STAR any better???? "oh honey you can't see that enormous ball of buring gas that's a few million light years away? here, lemme shine this laser pen on it to brighten it up a bit!"

and notice how they don't define "temporarily" blinded? probably because it was about a 1/1000th millisecond of distraction. ever shined a laser beam on a wall? it rattles all over the place. due to your unsteady hand movements, the farther you shine those things the more they move all over the place. it would be impossible to keep a laser beam steady on a pilot's eye longer than a brief millisecond if the pilot's 3,000 feet in the air in a MOVING vehicle that llama already acknowledged is at a ****ed up angle.

and to all you knuckleheads that think people in this thread are :violin: over a useless ****: guess what! these are discussion boards. people discuss ****. obviously the topic pertains interest to some people judging by the replies. i'm actually glad something is being discussed here. if you think the discussion is useless, tell us why then. otherwise, you're just proving that YOU'RE useless.

I would be one of those people that think this subject is :violin:, and all i got to say is BOO ****IN WOO!!! If this affects anyones life here, u obviously have to much time on your ****ing hands. And yes i am useless cause i can give a rats ass what happens to this guy or about anyones drama, maybe i should care and stress out over other peoples problems, then maybe i might mean something or be worth something,huh? :buttkick:

just because somebody's talking about something doesn't mean it's stressing them out. 95% of the **** discussed on this website has nothing to do with our personal lives. not to mention, it's an MMA site! nobody's lives are being altered in regards to the Pride results. but that doesn't mean they're not worth discussing.

usually when someone doesn't care about a particular subject at hand, they don't reply in the thread. and if there's not enough threads suitable to their interest, then we conveniently empower you all to start your own. that way everybody's happy. it's a very old concept that v-bulletin just happend to tailor about 5 years ago.

just because somebody's talking about something doesn't mean it's stressing them out. 95% of the **** discussed on this website has nothing to do with our personal lives. not to mention, it's an MMA site! nobody's lives are being altered in regards to the Pride results. but that doesn't mean they're not worth discussing.

usually when someone doesn't care about a particular subject at hand, they don't reply in the thread. and if there's not enough threads suitable to their interest, then we conveniently empower you all to start your own. that way everybody's happy. it's a very old concept that v-bulletin just happend to tailor about 5 years ago.

That sounds about right.

oh man. they won't give up. front page of cnn.com and yet another article. in here, they actually used a graphic in hoping that it would alert more tools.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/US/01/11/laser.beams.aircraft.ap/story.plane.jpg
yes folks. since we all know that's EXACTLY the effect of laser pens to jumbo jets.



i couldn't believe the amounts of outright bull****. too much bull**** in this article. it has to be broken down:

Mineta is expected to announce new measures for alerting pilots and preparing them to react when lasers are shined at their aircraft.
umm....turn your head away?

He is also expected to outline ways to notify law enforcement investigators more quickly.
well THAT'LL make the difference right there. notifying authorities quicker to a 1 outt've 50,000+ potential culprits that are several thousand feet below you. will they really catch the guy fast enough to get the light off of the plane???




...the bureau is looking into a report that a green light was beamed onto the nose of an aircraft last week as it was taking off from the Burbank airport.
since when do the pilots look out the NOSE of an aircraft?

"It's happening all over the place," Viray said Tuesday.
**** you

The first incident occurred Saturday and involved the Fairfax County Police Department's helicopter; the other happened Sunday to a U.S. Airways Express flight
to a terrorist, what good is blinding a helicopter pilot??? you can't cause much damage to a building by ramming a ****in helicopter in it.

"It did not injure the pilot or any of the passengers on board,"
it is physically impossible to injure anyone with a laser pen unless you hit them over the head with it.


"To our knowledge there was no danger to the aircraft," Viray said
these ****ers are watching way too much star trek.

My brother is flying to the dominican republic today for a vacation. I hope no one shines a lazer at him.................

i've heard they can shine lasers at the landing gear to pop the tires once they come out.

i've heard they can shine lasers at the landing gear to pop the tires once they come out.

Thoses bastards

Death Penalty Seems Adequate

This is unconstitutional. We must protect our right to bare lazers!!!

Join me, in starting the N.L.A..