I've been thinking about building a laser graphics system to write on clouds on nights when there are stratus clouds. I'm worried about lasing an airplane (I am not too close to the airport but not that far either) and was thinking about hooking up an ADS-B receiver to tell the system to keep the beam away from airplanes, even if they are on the other side of the cloud deck. A system like that, funny enough, is suppo…
They most certainly won't. Peruse this site if interested. Long story short, the kind of wattage you're talking about (writing on clouds visible from the ground) is incredibly dangerous, not just to airplanes but to those on the ground, and you would have to demonstrate through licenses and permits that you know what you're doing. I don't think $50k will get you even halfway there, if possible at all in any kind of urban center.
https://www.laserpointersafety.com/rules-general/cdrh-conseq...