Laser Pointing at Aircraft Increasing

by

scott@pipedot.org

in security on 2014-03-19 11:02 (#3GD)

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The US FBI has been working with the FAA and the Air Line Pilots Association to crack down on people pointing lasers at aircraft. "Reported incidents of laser attacks on aircraft in flight in the US have increased more than 1,000 percent since 2005, according to the FAA, from 283 up to 3,960 in 2013 - an average of 11 incidents a day."

Per the Air Line Pilots Association, " reports of aircraft laser illuminations in the U.S. have increased sharply over the past few years from 2836 in 2010 to 3,960 last year."

Sergio Patrick Rodriguez, 26, now has the dubious distinction of being sentenced to "14 years in federal prison, a term prosecutors believe to be among [California's] longest for such a crime." Rodriguez's gang membership and criminal record were likely factors in his sentence, as was using a laser that is called 13 times more powerful than most laser pointers.

Has anyone seen this happen? Or experienced it as a pilot or aircraft passenger?

Re: So many conflicts (Score: 3, Interesting)

by hombre@pipedot.org on 2014-03-20 18:48 (#QC)

Sorry, but you're wrong. A lot of aircraft, like every helicopter, fly low. 500'-1000' AGL is not a lot of time to react when you've been blinded. Frankly, I'm surprised that there haven't been any fatalities. I hesitate to label pointing a laser at an aircraft as attempted murder, but it's close. You don't do things that you know can seriously injury/kill people or do significant damage to property and then act like it's something minor when you get caught. It's not like it's an unreasonable request. It requires nothing more than for you to not be as asshole. I'm astonished that's there's even a debate.