DESIGNING OF A NEW AIRPORT PROTECTION ZONE AGAINST LASER ILLUMINATION

Abstract

Cases of laser irradiation of aircraft have become more frequent in the last 15 years and pose a greater threat to civil aviation security and the associated military aviation due to the availability and price of lasers. Based on studies by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the opinion of Czech experts on this issue, protection zones have been established around airports. However, they are not effective enough and laser irradiation has become more frequent until the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic and the decline of aviation. Based on laser illumination statistics in the Czech Republic and an assessment of the danger of lasers at specified distances around airports, a new protective zone was proposed. The protection zones against laser illumination were defined by a rectangle around circles with a radius of 7 NM and the centers on the final approach track.