Regarding Phaedrus' question on legality of pen lasers: Perfectly legal, unless you happen to blind a pilot with one.
"Interfering with a flight crew is a federal crime, interfering with aviation. So, the FBI has looked into many of these laser incidents over the last several years. We've located some of them, arrested some and several have been prosecuted," Richard Kolko, FBI Supervisory Special Agent, said.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=7392021Such devices are great for pointing out stars during astronomy events, and I call tell you from experience that a 5 mllliwatt laser is plenty bright: Reflection off a metal surface half a mile away is painful; shining it at the ground at your feet is flat-out dumb.
In a survival situation, a laser certainly is a useful tool. However, shining a laser into a cockpit could cause temporary blindness, which could create a whole new set of problems.