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Mavic Pro laser strike, what happened?

nil

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I was recording some nearby fireworks tonight and this blueish purplish laser hit it at least 3 times, even after I moved much further away from the fireworks. The beam looked pretty wide from the ground and looked like it got more narrow and focused when it hit my Mavic.

Video: Mavic Pro laser strike - Streamable

I'm wondering:

What kind of laser hit my Mavic?
Why would someone do that? Police?
Could the multiple ~1 second direct lens hits have damaged my Mavic's camera? Everything seemed fine afterwards, though the focus did seem a bit wonky.

Near the end, you can even see the laser operator aiming almost directly up in the sky while trying to find my Mavic after I put it in "stealth mode" by disabling the front red LEDs. That can't have been safe for any manned aircraft in the air.
 
It looks unlikely to me that they could see it at that distance, the beam seems so wide you just accidentally got in it. At closer range there might be a risk of damage to the sensor I guess, but from half a mile away it won't be any worse than briefly pointing at the sun.
 
It looks unlikely to me that they could see it at that distance, the beam seems so wide you just accidentally got in it.
It was very obvious that the laser operator was aiming at my Mavic. What's in the video happened another two times and any evasive action I took was matched by the laser, at least until I turned off the front red LEDs.
 
It was likely one of those purple eBay high powered lasers. I doubt if it hurt your Mavic. They are powerful enough to burn plastic and set paper on fire.
 
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Just looks like someone mucking around with an ebay laser to me. They probably shine it at the police helicopter too. There will be no risk to the mavic from that distance.
 
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It was very obvious that the laser operator was aiming at my Mavic. What's in the video happened another two times and any evasive action I took was matched by the laser, at least until I turned off the front red LEDs.
This has me puzzled. How could he have seen you from that distance with you videoing. Your lights were already off .
He could not have seen you. Seems highly unlikely he was
searching for you. Looks like you was just in the wrong place
at the right time.
JMO
 
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He said the laser targeted him until he turned off the LEDs, so I assume they were on - it's quite easy at night to hit a target with a laser and the mavic's LEDs can be seen over quite a distance.
 
I was recording some nearby fireworks tonight and this blueish purplish laser hit it at least 3 times, even after I moved much further away from the fireworks. The beam looked pretty wide from the ground and looked like it got more narrow and focused when it hit my Mavic.

Video: Mavic Pro laser strike - Streamable

I'm wondering:

What kind of laser hit my Mavic?
Why would someone do that? Police?
Could the multiple ~1 second direct lens hits have damaged my Mavic's camera? Everything seemed fine afterwards, though the focus did seem a bit wonky.

Near the end, you can even see the laser operator aiming almost directly up in the sky while trying to find my Mavic after I put it in "stealth mode" by disabling the front red LEDs. That can't have been safe for any manned aircraft in the air.
Mount an E-Bay purple laser on your drone and engage the enemy with over whelming force...just saying ...lol
 
He said the laser targeted him until he turned off the LEDs, so I assume they were on - it's quite easy at night to hit a target with a laser and the mavic's LEDs can be seen over quite a distance.
Exactly. Plus I had strobes on the bottom, top, and rear as I wanted to be very visible with all the fireworks being launched.
 
It was probably law enforcement. DJI’s drones transmits information that allows it to be tracked. No one could spot your drone from that distance.
 
I doubt if it would have been police; they would not take the chance of causing unknown damage that could lead to a crash. It's probably just some stupid dude messing with you.
 
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strobes were still on then when you turned off mavic lights
From that angle, it would have been very difficult to see the strobes on the Mavic.

This was mainly a curiosity plus a bit of wanting to make sure the camera optics weren't damaged. It's not that big of a deal and probably even gave the people on the ground something non-fireworks to look at for a few seconds.

Thanks for all the input everyone.
 
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